Opening Night
by Fritz Baugh
Summary: April 2003; Timeline Year 21. When a monster shows up at the premiere of a new Disney movie, Who Ya Gonna Call? Oh wait...they're three thousand miles away... The debut of the Ghostbusters West Coast Division.
1. Chapter 1

**Ghostbusters West Coast: Opening Night, Part One**

From the files of Fritz V. Baugh, Official Historian  
with plot ssistance from the entire GBWC team  
GBI Case File GBWC-2003-21/001

* * *

**Somewhere**

* * *

I will have my revenge...

He laughed at me...said I wasn't good enough...

That I wasn't skilled enough to be part of their clique...

I will show him...

I will have my revenge...

"Are you ready, then, fleshling??? Do you accept the power--and your obligation???"

"I do, Lord Atrocity"

There was pain. Intense, exquisite pain.

Pain so intense that I should want to die.

* * *

**Apartment of Joey Williams, PhD.  
Los Angeles, California  
April 18, 2003**

* * *

Joey cussed as the phone rang, rousing him from a deep sleep. He didn't have to work today, so he'd stayed up too late watching Cartoon Network...and he'd been roused from a very...interesting dream starring Fujiko Mine from Lupin III...

"Hmm...Doctor Williams' house. I'm sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a name and message and a number and all that I'll get back to you as soon as I can I promise. Beeeeeeep."

_"You were up watching cartoons again, weren't you?"_ the voice at the other end said in mockingly stern tones. It was his closest friend, Chuck Sherwood.

"And be glad I do, because otherwise you'd be out of a job..."

_"Like I need you personally to watch!"_ Chuck laughed. _"I catch your act, remember? It'd probably be better for my career if you didn't like my stuff!"_

"I'll remember that if I get stopped by a movie critic this evening." Joey deadpanned.

_"Just as long as you're there, sleepy head. It took me pulling in a favor or two with the brass to get you those seats. I warn you now--I think you're gonna be stuck with the UBN 'Dance with the Skeletons' contest winners."_

"No prob, Chuck. Just as long as there isn't a big pole in the way blocking my way. Though being your performance maybe it'd be just as well..."

Chuck laughed, told him to perform an anatomical impossibility on himself, and hung up.

Joey found himself in a contemplative mood as he showered and began to dress. All of twenty-four, he had earned a degree in the field of parapsychology, but work in the field was pretty sparse. There were a few research positions, but no big college funded it anymore: ever since Columbia closed their parapsychology department in 1983, and Stanford closed theirs after that lab accident in the mid 1990's. Private industry was even worse: there was a famous, even legendary organization of professional paranormal investigators and eliminators, but their operating teams were small and pretty much invitation-only. So Joey had been living on his other love, stand-up comedy, and was beginning to become known at it, too: for the past year he'd been appearing at the Groundling's main stage, and had even almost managed an appearance on Jay Leno. If only Richard Simmons hadn't run late that night...

It was at the Groundling that he'd met Chuck, another aspiring comedian and actor (Hey, it's LA). Chuck had gotten a big break when he was called in to do a voice for the Walt Disney Company's latest animated movie. It was a stroke of raw luck, too...the actor who'd originally recorded the part had had a contract fight with Disney over the share of the movie's profits, and one of the producers had seen Chuck do a bang-up impression of the same actor at the club. Thus, Chuck rerecorded the lines and was about to become an Official Movie Star. Which led to him finagling some tickets for his friend, Joey.

He was trying not to be jealous of his friend's approaching fame. He wasn't completely succeeding. He was genuinely happy for Chuck, but at the same time it hurt a little bit--like Joey was being left behind somehow. That something significant was about to happen--and Joey wouldn't be part of it.

* * *

**Stevens Point Hospital**

* * *

Doctor Kyle Stevens exhaled loudly. It had been a long night shift, and to say he was tired would be an understatement of epic proportions. For goodness sake...I shouldn't be feeling this old already...

Maybe it was the eighteen-hour shift he'd just worked. Maybe it was that LA was so different from Mt. Olive, Alabama...They didn't have gang turf wars and drive-by shootings back home. So often he wished they needed him there...or anywhere...except here.

"You okay, Kyle?" Kyle looked up to see his fellow doctor and old friend, Micheal Camy, a tall fellow (6'5") who'd heard all the "how's the weather?" jokes more times that he cared to remember.

"Tired...to put it mildly..."

"Look, Dr. Flieheit and Dr. Chen both came in ten minutes ago. Go home and get some sleep, Kyle. Feed those cats of yours, assuming they still remember who you are. We won't need you here until after six this evening--you can almost manage a full night's rest in that time!"

Kyle grinned, but was reluctant to move. Mostly because it would take energy he wasn't sure he had..."Are you sure about that?"

Micheal gently mocked punching him in the head. "Despite what you seem to believe some times, Doctor Stevens, this place CAN run itself without you. At least for a few hours. Now go home and sleep--you know you're no good to anybody when you're too tired to tell the difference between a catheter and an enema."

"My patients would definitely agree with that!" Kyle couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

**Apartment of Peter Kong**

* * *

"Why, I remember the time we had to fight six skeletons all at once...and they had swords! And..."

"I know, I know, Grandpa...the skeletons had swords and nearly cut Great Uncle Eddie's head off with them but you stopped them."

"Hm...I've told you this story, haven't I?"

"Well...a time or two..." Peter smiled fondly.

"You heard from your Pop yet, Petey?"

"He called last night...he wishes he could've made it, but after fracturing that hip..."

"Durn kid of mine doesn't know when to quit. Keep tellin' him that investigatin' every haunted house that comes up isn't his job anymore, but nooooo...top it off, the durn house wasn't haunted. Just somebody's cat got stuck in the chimney..."

"You know how dedicated to his job Pop was. Hurt a lot to have to give it up."

"Yeah...and then he moved to Muncie. Muncie? That's like the middle of friggin' nowhere!! He needed to stay here and take care of me but..." Grandpa Kong started to nod off, and ten seconds later he was snoring.

Peter Kong looked at his paternal grandfather--Jacob Kong Senior--with amused fondness. It really didn't bother him hearing all of the stories...of how thirty years ago Jake Sr. and his best friend started their own ghost hunting buisness. Ten years later, Peter's father--Jake's son, Jake Jr.--had inherited the business. But a rival professional paranormal investigation outfit sprung up around just before that, and when Jake Jr. and his partner--the son of Jake Sr.s partner--finally defeated their main enemy, there was nothing left for them: that other team and it's franchises just simply put them out of business.

"Muffy..." Peter called to Jake's nurse.

Muffy Glenn, the professional nurse and caregiver Jake Jr. had hired to look after his old man, appeared in the doorway. "He finally nodded off, I take it?"

"Yeah..." Peter responded. "Maybe it's better if he slept for a while. He may need the energy--I kept telling him he didn't have to go to the premiere tonight, I'd understand, but you know how he is..."

"You're his only grandchild and he's proud of you, Peter. I mean, all of the buzz is around this movie...some quarters are already talking Oscar and it hasn't even come out yet."

"You're making me blush, here..."

She winked at him. "I try, Mister Kong. It try..."

* * *

**Los Angeles Hotel Sedgewick**

* * *

Jeremy Hicks muttered to himself as he left the lunch room. Something about all that posh just kind of bugged him...thinking about how much the meal he just ate probably cost more than his first car just kind of put him on edge. I can't believe I'm even at this place...the Hotel Sedgewick? It'd take two weeks salary just to afford one night in this place...

_Good thing I'm not paying for it._

He tried to shake off the funk he was in. He was in LA! About to be at the debut of a major motion picture! And for him it was all free!!! He should be having the time of his life.

Except...the night before...for the first time in months he'd dreamt of her...La Llarona..."The Weeping Woman"...her words seemed so clear this time, almost as clear as that strange day when she'd first uttered them to him...

_Beware the snare of Anpu...seek those who follow the neon banner of the rat...the ludicrous one and the dragon of victory, the healer and the binder of spectres...but guard yourself, for the ten will be sundered..._

"Hold that elevator!!!" a loud female voice shouted.

Jeremy did so without even thinking, and wasn't disappointed for his effort. The woman who ran into the elevator, slighly out of breath, was one of the more attractive specimens of female Homo sapiens he'd had the pleasure of meeting. Around his own age (22), possibly a few years older. She had long, blonde (slightly reddish) hair, and was dressed in a simple purple shirt and mini skirt. She wore tennis shoes over short socks.

"Thanks. " she said, still a bit breathless. "Could you hit the button for floor 19, please?"

"Nope." he replied, smirking.

She looked at him, a bit of annoyance starting to cross her face.

"Already pushed the button." he clarified, grinning. "That's my floor too."

She made that distinctive female grumble and set the bag she was carrying down, sounding quite glad to do so for the minute or two it would take to reach floor 19. Jeremy took the opportunity to study her more closely...

_Oh yeah...this is a fine piece of architecture here..._

She picked through the bag, which looked to Jeremy to have several heavy books inside it. She gently kicked it. "The things I do for that man..."

Jeremy hoped his face didn't fall too obviously. "Not for you?"

She looked at him with a start, like she'd not meant to have anything she said heard. "Um...no...they're for Doc."

_A doctor? Man, I can't cut a break here..._

"He asked me to get these books for him. Standard stuff from the gift shop--lots of LA local color stuff he'll probably never read, but he's an incurable pack rat and insists 'I want to be ready in case I DO want to read up on LA'. Plus the new Gundam DVD. Can't be bothered to do it himself when he's inspired, though if I don't make him put his pencil down he'll keep doing those equations right through the premiere..."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. " 'Premiere'?"

"Uh...yeah. Doc won tickets to the _Dance of the Skeletons _premiere tonight on a radio call-in contest, trip for two all expense paid."

"You're sh*tting me. That's exactly how I got here too! So...you his date then?"

She laughed. "Sort of. I'm not the person he really wanted to invite, but he couldn't work up the courage to ask her. Miss Second Best, I guess that's me..."

_Now you're really sh*tting me_

The bell rang and the elevator door opened.

The woman hefted the bag up with a slight groan. "Let me get that for you, Miss..."

"That's really not necessary!"

"Hey, we're on the same floor, so it's not like I'm going out of my way, right?"

She looked at him for a few seconds more. "I guess" She handed him the bag. "Chelsea Aberdeen."

_Damn...this bag is heavy..._"Jeremy. Jeremy Hicks."

She led him to room 67 and knocked on the door. "Doc..." she called. "I'm back"

The door opened and a man with slightly unkempt brown hair opened to stare at them through his eyeglasses.

"I take it the hotel has abandoned its dress code?" the man in the doorway quipped, raising an eyebrow and adjusting his necktie.

Chelsea rolled her eyes. "He's not on the staff, Doctor...I ran into him on the elevator."

"Oh?" "Doc" replied, a slightly mischievous tone in his voice.

Jeremy went for the direct route. "Jeremy Hicks. I hear you won your tickets too, Doctor..." He extended his right hand

"Fritz Baugh." the other man replied, shaking it. "My companion can be loose tongued at times, but she speaks the truth. These my books?"

"You're welcome" Jeremy deadpanned as Fritz took the bag. "So what are you a doctor of?" Whatever it is your bedside manner sucks...

Fritz raised an eyebrow again. "Physics."

_Oh...a science nerd...should've guessed...the chick must go for the cranium..._

"Heh heh heh..." the scientist chuckled, hefting a DVD case out of the bag. "The latest volume of _G Gundam_..."

"You don't have time, Doc." Chelsea chided gently. "You have to get ready for the premiere."

"Tomorrow then. A pleasure meeting you, Mister Hicks. I suppose I might see you tonight."

"Um, yeah...um, nice meeting you, Doc. And especially you, Chelsea." with that, Jeremy waved and made a hasty retreat from the room.

_She is a babe...what is she doing with that weirdo?_

"What?" Fritz responded, catching the look Chelsea was giving him.

"You could've been nicer."

"I thanked him for the books."

"No you didn't"

"Okay, I meant to. Besides, I don't think it was me he was interested in anyway."

"Jealous?"

"Why should I be? Your social life is none of my business."

"If it was Bernice you'd be jealous."

"True. But he wasn't eying Bernice like a four-course dinner." he quipped, pulling two postcards out of the bag. "Which reminds me, I have to get these postcards sent to her and Leon..."

"Like she really cares..."

"Let's not have this debate again, Chelsea. As I've said before, I can waste my money any way I want."

"Oh, don't let me stop you, Doctor Fritz...if you'll excuse me!!" with that, she slammed his door hard as she left.

Fritz regarded the door for a moment. "Now what got her so enraged?"

* * *

**Somewhere...**

* * *

_There was pain. Intense, exquisite pain._

_Pain so intense that I should want to die._

_But no._

_I cannot die._

_I will not die._

_HE will die._

_And then the pain is gone. I stand transformed._

_There is deep, dark laughter._

_"**You have the power now. You will have your revenge. In return, you will now serve me."**_

_"Yes, Milord."_

_Such power!!! I bristle with it!!! I..._

_Hm..okay, I don't have hands anymore, but that's a small price to pay._

_"**Thusly, in the name of Anubis the Lord of Death, I shall call you henceforth...the Ravisher!!!"**_

_Ravisher...oh yeah...I like it. The Ravisher._

"Go, my servant. Have your revenge...and then we'll talk..."

* * *

**Anaheim**

* * *

Joey tugged his collar uncomfortably as he moved from the limo toward the theatre. It'd been a while since he put on a tuxedo, and was remembering that he didn't really care for it.

A teenager caught his eye. The boy was slouching against a pole with a posture and expression that seemed to shout "My Parents Made Me Come To This Stupid Thing", especially as his tuxedo was set off with spikey blue hair. It was only confirmed for Joey when a tall woman with flowing, slightly curled brown hair came up to him, and he visibly straightened.

"It's about time to go in."

"What? Pop done with the autograph hounds already?"

"Just about. You know how he is--always has to schmooze with the paparazzi."

"I still can't believe he made me come to this thing. It's a f***ing cartoon, Mom!!!"

"Oscar Wilhelm Wallance, I hear that word come out of your mouth again tonight, and I swear I will spank you right then and there with every camera rolling." the tall woman said through gritted teeth, grabbing his arm.

"Hey!!! Dana!!! Oscar!!!" a smooth voice called to them.

Joey instinctively turned along with them, and just about crapped his pants. He was a trained parapsychologist, and anyone with even the slightest interest in the field regarded the man now standing ten feet away from him as one of a quartet of virtual demigods. Joey Williams was within shouting distance of Dr. Peter Venkman, one of the original and legendary Ghostbusters.

"So, Oscar...all the Hollywood starlets not keeping their hands off of you? Or is your fabulously gorgeous mother being right next to you making them all jealous?"

Oscar snorted with irritation.

"Are we not Mister Happy Pants today, Son?"

"I'm not your son."

"Oscar..." Dana growled.

"Well, I'm not!!!"

Venkman took off his sunglasses, his jovial Cheshire grin disappearing. "Y'know, half your hoodlum friends would give their left arms to be attending a big shin-dig like this, and here you are b*thching because we wouldn't let you stay home." His green eyes were starting to flash with anger. "And since I'm not your real father, I guess that means we'll just have to ground you in your room until he gets back into the states. Which will be what? March? He can decide how to punish you then, I guess..."

Oscar was still angry, but the thought of being grounded for most of the next school year had it's intended effect. His eyes fell, and he mumbled something that sounded like "sorry"

Venkman tousled his hair. "Glad that's settled. Though I think more of a cobalt blue would've matched your eyes better..."

Oscar chuckled despite himself. The less amused Dana hissed "Peter..."

Joey lost track of them right after that, as several more people pressed in. He finally entered the main theatre, and began to look for his seat...he finally found it. In the seat next to him was a man with slightly unkempt brown hair and eyeglasses, staring with interest at his cel phone or something. "Seat 13B?"

"As I am seated in seat 13C I would assume so." the man responded, not looking up from his phone.

"I don't think they allow calls during the movie..."

"The movie hasn't started yet."

"Friiiitz..." the quite attractive blonde on the man's other side said, punching him in the arm. Fritz grumbled and put the phone away.

Hello... Joey thought to himself. "Oh, you didn't tell me Miss America was your date..."

The blonde woman chuckled and blushed. Fritz rolled his eyes. "This is your day for admirers, isn't it Chelsea?"

Jeremy, sitting off to Miss Aberdeen's other side, smirked mischieviously and chimed in "I saw her first, Dude" at Joey.

"I think as a gentleman, or a reasonable facsimile, I shall let the charming young lady decide...Chelsea's a pretty name, by the way..." he took her right hand and kissed it. "Joey Williams. Doctor Joey Williams. But call me yours."

Fritz was regarding this with all of the enthusiasm of a man about to projectile vomit his lunch. "Hello? I hate to be in the way of the mating ritual, but do you mind?" he snapped, waving their hands out of his personal space.

"Quit acting so jealous." Chelsea retorted, sticking her tongue out at him.

Elsewhere in the theatre, Peter Kong was getting his grandfather situated. "You gonna be okay here, Grandpa? I wasn't able to get you something closer to the animator section, where I'll be..."

"Pfah. I'll be fine, Petey..." Jake Senior responded. "It's not like I'm gonna have to run or anything..."

"Only if a ghost shows up during the movie" Peter joked, and the two laughed hard.

Peter headed for his seat. Some of the other animators of the project were near him as was Wilton Gladstone, the producer; Jim Harley, the associate producer (Peter didn't care for him--he embodied the associate producer cliche of "guy who didn't do anything but still gets his name on the picture"); and Jon Dennison, the director. Dennison was talking to some man Peter didn't recognize, but somehow seemed familiar.

"...Gotta get over to the family, Jon; the stepson is not real happy about this. But good luck, dude. You deserve it."

_Wow..._Peter thought to himself. _They should've gotten THAT guy to do the Garfield movie instead of Bill Murray! He sounds just like Lorenzo Music!!!_

Jon laughed. "At least you've only got one, Pete...my third wife's been married twice, so I got five stepkids. What you gonna do about it?"

_His name's Pete? Now this is really bugging me..._

The man who sounded like Garfield laughed and walked away, taking a seat near a striking, tall woman and a sullen teenager with blue hair. Dennison got up out of his chair, and went to the front of auditorium

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Honored Guests, I've been asked to say a few words to you before the show begins. As you know, back during the dawn of the Golden Age of Animation, the Walt Disney studio released the legendary short cartoon 'Skeleton Dance' Well, a few years ago I saw that cartoon and was struck with the idea of doing a new cartoon, inspired by it's visuals. An action-packed comedy featuring a stalwart hero, a plucky heroine, and a cute animal sidekick dealing with the hordes of skeletons based on the originals...and today, all of our work pays off. I'd like to thank my producer, Wilton Gladstone...my brother-in-law, Jim Harley...my head animator, Peter Kong, and the entire animation team...the fine voice actors--Maurice LaMarche and Jim Cummings, two of the giants of their industry--and their crew of vets and talented newcomers...and of course my wife Taffy. Enjoy the show, my friends!!!"

"I thought that guy'd never shut up." Joey whispered. Fritz stifled an honest chuckle.

_"Aren't you forgetting someone, Jonny?_" A deep voice uttered, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.

"What the f***?" someone next to Peter shouted.

"You think this is part of the show?" Chelsea asked Jeremy.

"Um...I guess..."

_"I think someone got left off your list, Jonny-Boy..."_ the voice said again. There was something starting to happen...a swirl of mist started to surround Jon Dennison.

"Wh..what the hell is going on?" Dennison said, panic in his voice.

_"You can't be forgetting me, Jonny...c'mon, you know who this is..."_

"Either that guy is a better actor than the voice cast, or he's genuinely frightened." Fritz noted simply, pushing his glasses up his nose.

_"...Or, to be more accurate, who this once was!!!"_

People were starting to get jittery.

Peter Kong looked at his grandfather. "Grandpa?" Peter was feeling the strange urge to sneeze.

_"C'mon...who else would hate what you did enough to ruin your moment of glory?"_

The mist congealed near the panicked director. He tried to run.

The mist folded around him, stopping him.

"This isn't part of the show, is it?" Jeremy asked.

"It has to be..." Chelsea replied, grabbing Fritz's arm.

"I'm beginning to suspect not."

"Look...whoever you are...I got money...lots of money..." Dennison started to plead.

There was a ripping sound.

Dennison's right shoulder exploded into a geyser of spewing blood.

The mist parted. Standing there was a creature resembling a jackal, albeit one standing upright and having smoke wisping from his pores. The monster flexed it's right arm, the large talon that replaced his hand covered in blood.

_A hoodie?_ Joey thought to himself incredulously. _A jackal-headed monster wearing a hoodie?_

_"I have been through the fires of Hell and been transformed. And why have I done this? To get my revenge on you, Jon Dennison. Call me...the Ravisher!!!"_

"Oh, F**k..." Joey muttered under his breath, now quite sure Fritz was right.

This wasn't part of the show.

* * *

To Be Continued

* * *

F3211-61603m  
006


	2. Chapter 2

**Ghostbusters West Coast: Opening Night, Part Two**

From the files of Fritz V. Baugh, Official Historian  
with plot assistance from the entire GBWC team  
GBI Case File GBWC-2003-21/001

* * *

**Apartment of Kyle Stevens, Los Angeles California  
April 18, 2003**

* * *

Kyle awoke with a start. Maggie, one of his cats, was yowling for his attention.

He awoke bleary eyed...and realized his alarm was going off..._I slept through my alarm?_

His moment of panic calmed when he realized it had only been going off a few minutes--he wouldn't be late for his next shift at Stevens Point Hospital; heck, he'd managed a whole four hours of sleep in the bargain.

He sighed and got out of bed, only to grunt with disgust as his foot landed in something wet and smelly.

"MISTER WHISKERS!!!" he shouted angrily, but his other cat was nowhere to be seen.

Whiskers only craps like that when he's upset about something...Kyle reminded himself. He reached down to scrach Maggie's ears, and she pulled away and hissed. _What the?_

He knew that animals were sometimes sensitive to things that humans couldn't detect. He quickly ran about to make sure that the apartment wasn't on fire. No fire. No muggers. No UFOs hovering overhead.

_What has got them all riled up?_

He shrugged it off long enough to dress. But as he left the building, he couldn't shake the feeling.

_This is not going to be a good night._

* * *

**Anaheim**

* * *

Pandemonium was the only way to describe it.

Everyone was screaming at once.

Jeremy Hicks was pushed, jostled, and then thrown into a chair, his stomach hitting the top of the theatre seat, knocking the wind out of him for a few seconds.

"Get out of my way, b#tch!!!" he heard someone shout, and then a scream from a voice he had already become familiar with. _Chelsea?!_

He saw her thrown just like he was, by some model of Hollywood cool so scared out of his gourd that he didn't care what or who got in his way, just so his pampered, overpaid butt could get to safety.

He vaulted over the seat to where the staggered Chelsea Aberdeen was shaking her head, her gorgeous purple dress dirtied and torn during the commotion. "You alright?"

She started to look around. "I'm fine, but...where's Fritz?"

"Damn it damn it all to Hell!!!" Jake Kong Senior shouted as a man who looked like Earring Magic Ken shoved him aside. "I'm an old man, you f***ing queer!!! How dare you!!!"

Peter Kong tried to reach his grandfather, but the panicked crowd pushed him further away.

"Peter!!!" he heard someone call, and instinctively turned.

"HuH?!" he turned and called back.

The tall woman he'd seen earlier--sitting next to the guy he thought would make a terrific Garfield--turned to look at him, just as confused. He didn't see "Garfield", but the blue haired boy was trying to drag the tall woman out of there.

"We gotta go, Mom!!! It's not safe in here!!!"

"But Peter..."

"Dad knows what he's doing!!! You know that better than anyone!!!"

It dawned on him that she wasn't talking to him at all--she meant "Pete"...Garfield...the guy who somehow bugged him because he seemed...familiar.

_"Knows what he's doing"? What does he mean by that?_

Jake Kong Senior felt himself grabbed once more, and pulled away from the aisle of panicked audience members. "Perhaps, sir, it might be best to wait until the rush is over with." a surprisingly calm voice told him. Two men had dragged him out of the fray, the one who addressed him so calmly peering through eyeglasses.

"Remind me not to get in line for the premiere of _Nemo..._" the other man deadpanned. "You all right, mister?"

"Pride's hurt more than anything else..." Jake admitted.

By now the bespectacled man was punching his cel phone. "Fritz?"

Fritz Baugh glanced back at Joey Williams for only a second. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm calling the f***ing police."

* * *

Officer Kirby picked up the phone.

"LAPD...uh-huh...uh-huh...sure. Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but this kind of stupid practical joke isn't funny and if I find out who this is I'll come down there and kick your a** myself!!! I've got muggings and drive-bys to worry about without any stupid prank calls!!! Good night!!!"

With that, Kirby slammed down the phone.

His friend Officer Muldoon overheard the whole thing. "What is it this time?"

"Goon called and said a jackal-headed monster in a hoodie was tearing up the Anaheim theatre...I swear, these retards and their crack..."

Muldoon got a good laugh. "But gee, Kirby, what if he was telling the truth?"

Kirby laughed back. "Then Ghostbusters needs to open up a west coast branch office--monsters still ain't our jurisdiction!" They backslapped each other, and headed off to raid the coffee and doughnuts.

* * *

"Unsurprisingly, that went nowhere." Fritz flatly informed Joey and Jake.

"You're taking this well." Joey surmised.

"Panic will get us nowhere." Fritz replied. "And I don't exactly see you screaming and drooling either."

"I'm a trained parapsychologist!" Joey informed him. "This is just the sort of thing I've waited for my whole professional life!!!"

Jake looked at them, suddenly impressed. "You two fellers remind me of some guys my boy Junior knew..."

Jon Dennison could feel the hot breath of his attacker, now standing only inches away from him.

"W...why are you doing this?" Dennison pleaded.

_"You damned fool...you really are stupid..." _ the creature snorted back. _"But that's why you hire people who can actually think, steal their ideas, and then take the credit for them. Leaving them with nothing. One of them comes up with the idea for a blockbuster...and you kick them to the curb like yesterday's trash."_

_"Well, guess who's leaving this place in a black baggie today, Jonny-boy?"_

"I...listen, I don't know what you think I've done!"

The Ravisher backhanded Dennison hard. It waited until Dennison had more or less recovered his wits again, and knew he was looking. _"You still didn't figure it out. Tard." _ the Ravisher put one taloned hand over his right eye. _"Here's a hint, dumba**..."_

Dennison inhaled hard, his eyes widening with horrified realization. "S...Snurf?" he gasped weakly.

The Ravisher's mouth opened to a toothy grin. _"Heh heh heh...I told you you'd regret firing me..." _ He grabbed Dennison and hoisted him off the floor.

"You know, you really need to put some more feeling into that. I'm just not reading the hate here." a smooth voice cut in.

The Ravisher turned to see a man with brown hair nonchalantly leaning against a theatre seat.

_"Do you mind??? I'm trying to get my revenge here!!!"_

"P...Pete...what are you doing?" Dennison called weakly. "Get away...he'll..."

Peter Venkman lazily pulled a cigarette out of his jacket, lit it, inhaled, and blew a huge cloud of smoke at the furious Ravisher. "What? It's not me he's mad at..."

Near the back of the theater, Fritz and Joey looked back as they were helping Jake to the exit. "That man must be the king of the fools..." Fritz remarked.

Joey's jaw dropped. "Do you know who that guy is? He's Peter Venkman--the Ghostbuster!!!"

Jake Senior looked with a start. "Holy crap!!! It is!!! My son worked with him a couple times..."

"Your son? Is he..."

"Jake Kong, Junior."

Joey and Fritz looked at each other. "Never heard of him." Joey answered honestly.

Jake sighed and rolled his eyes. "Not many have anymore..."

They hustled Jake to the back door of the theatre. Peter was there with Dana and Oscar.

"Grandpa!" You all right?" Peter asked naturally enough.

"I'm fine, Petey...fine..." he indicated Joey and Fritz. "These two fellers brought me to safety like they'd been doin' it for years. And speakin' as one who did..."

"My husband!" Dana broke in. "Have you seen him? He's..."

"Doctor Venkman was down there trying to distract the monster" Joey responded, as he knew who she was talking about. He tried not to stare at her either, not just because she was quite attractive, but because he knew who she was: _She must be Dana Barrett....the avatar of Zuul..._ Like Venkman, a person of no small stature in parapsychology circles.

"Oh my God..." Dana gasped. "That IDIOT!!!"

"How do you know who he is?" Oscar asked Joey suspiciously.

"I'm a PhD in parapsychology myself. Doctor Venkman is a legend in the field."

Peter was putting two and two together. "Peter Venkman!!! No wonder he looked familiar!!! I was just trying to think of an actor or something--not one of my Pop's old friends!"

"I would surmise that Doctor Venkman, then, is trying to distract the creature from Mister Dennison, possibly with intent to allow someone else to obtain medical attention for him." Fritz mused, adjusting his glasses.

Oscar couldn't help but chuckle. "He talks like Uncle Egon..."

Joey cracked his knuckles. "Then I say maybe we go give Doctor Venkman a hand. Any body with me?"

Peter stepped forward. "That sleazebag can't kill Jon while I can do anything about it."

Fritz just nodded and grunted an agreeing sound. "Fritz!!!" a female voice called.

They turned to see Jeremy and Chelsea run up to them, the latter grabbing Fritz and hugging him. He didn't look completely comfortable. "I was worried that that thing..."

He gently pulled her off of him. "I'm afraid reassurance is premature--there's still a man needing our help. Mister Hicks, keep an eye on her for me..."

"Fritz..." she pleaded.

"Bite that, Doc." Jeremy replied. "I'm good with my hands--I'm in for the rescue too." he turned at Chelsea and winked. "Can't let Doc and Joey be the big heroes, right?"

Fritz handed her his glasses. "I'll be as careful as possible. I promise."

"We'll keep an eye on her, Doctor." Jake volunteered. Fifteen year old Oscar seemed to perk up a little with the thought.

Joey Williams, Peter Kong, Fritz Baugh, and Jeremy Hicks exchanged one look of grim determination.

Peter Venkman blew a big smoke ring into the face of the increasingly angry Ravisher. "So what did ol' Jonny do to you anyway? Bag your sister?"

Ravisher roared and dropped Dennison. Then he studied Venkman with a bit of puzzlement. _"Don't I...scare you?"_

"Pshoot. After hundred foot marshmallow men and Godzilla-sized octopus monsters you're small potatoes, Ravishing."

_"Um...Ravisher. I'm called Ravisher. THE Ravisher..."_ The four men crept closer. "So do we just jump in and..." Peter started.

Fritz held up a hand. "No. We need a plan, and an opporunity."

"Did I say I cared?" Venkman replied to the stewing creature nonchalantly He kept fiddling with his cigarette...truth to tell, he was frightened out of his gourd, and years of conditioned reflex were compelling his hand to reach to his right shoulder, but at the moment it'd do no good..._I **wish** I had Ol' Betsy right now...this guy'd be scary enough with her. But at least he dropped Dennison. Now if I can just get him away..._

Jeremy looked at the situation. "He's pretty fixed on that other guy, but if we could distract him further."

Joey grinned. "Leave that to me."

"And we'll try to get Jon out of there..." Peter summarized. Fritz only nodded with agreement. "

Heck..." Venkman was telling Ravisher. "My teenage step son is scarier than you, Ed. Or my old secretary--I tell you, during certain times of the month I just wanted to hide in the basement. Don't know how my pal Egon puts up with that."

_"Um..."_ Ravisher tried to break in. "Waking up every morning for years with a layer of green slime all over me--that, my hyena friend, is scary...You are not."

"I think you're being too generous, Doctor Venkman." the voice of Joey Williams broke in.

_"Who's this jackass?" _ Ravisher snarled.

"Dunno. Hope not a theatre critic." Venkman responded, deadpan.

"Personally, I've always thought Disney's live action shows sucked, but you take the taco, Pal." Joey continued, looking at Ravisher. As he talked, he walked nonchalantly over to Venkman "I mean, sh**, at this rate you'll be busted back to wearing the Pluto costume on the midway."

Ravisher snarled louder, taking a step closer to Venkman and Joey. _"Do you know who I am, you mortal fools?! I am the servant of Lord Atrocity, and Chosen by Anubis!!!"_

"And you think I care why?" Joey snorted. "God, you're worse than I thought. You'll be lucky to be an elf in the Small Small World Ride..."

That did it. Ravisher howled and lunged.

Joey and Venkman ran.

The Ravisher roared, and lumbered off in pursuit.

Peter, Jeremy, and Fritz ran to the stage, where Dennison was bleeding.

"Hang on, Jon...we'll get you out of here..." Peter tried to assure his friend and coworker.

"I'm not a medical doctor, but moving a critically injured patient without professional supervision is considered highly ill advised." Fritz said, removing his jacket and placing it around Dennison's wound.

"Leaving him here for the monster to finish him off would be even more 'ill advised'" Jeremy pointed out.

"True enough." Fritz agreed.

* * *

"Pretty good job, Kid..." Venkman said as he and Joey ran.

"Thanks..coming from you that means a lot..." Joey admitted, honestly.

They ran behind a dumpster, and panted for a few seconds.

"I mean it...that takes a lot of guts..."

"I..." Joey hesitated, not wanting to sound like he was trying to kiss ass too hard, but felt he had to be honest. "I'm a trained parapsychologist myself, Doctor Venkman...this is just the sort of thing I always wanted to do..."

Venkman peeked around the corner. "I don't see Ed the Hyena anywhere." With that, he picked up a garbage can and threw it, causing loud, harsh metallic echoes to reverberate through the alleyway. "So what's your name, anyway, kid?"

"Joey Williams, sir. Doctor Joey Williams."

Venkman threw another trash can. "I especially liked the Small Small World bit...I had a bad experience on that ride once, but still..."

"Why are..."

"We want him after us a little bit longer--if he goes back for Jon he's screwed." He turned back to Joey. "And call me Peter. Seeing as how we might be about to die together..."

The same billowing, eerie smoke from the theatre appeared all around them.

"Oh hell..." Joey muttered. "You couldn't have come to the premiere with a proton pack handy?"

"No. Brought my Platinum SuperCard instead--'don't leave home without it.' Lying a**holes..." Venkman smirked, reaching down to grab a curtain rod lying next to one of the dumpsters.

The Ravisher appeared, smoke snorting out of his muzzle. _"You guys are in so much trouble..."_

"Oh yeah, Ed?" Venkman shouted, now acting crazed. "You wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts!!!" He brandished the curtain rod like a light saber. "C'mon, Destroy me!!!"

Venkman swung the curtain rod. Ravisher grabbed it and hurled it a good thirty feet, causing it to smash into a newspaper box and destroy it. He grabbed Venkman and casually tossed him into the alley wall.

Venkman groaned and slumped to the ground.

While the Ravisher was gloating to itself over the fallen Venkman, Joey used the momentary pause to dump a trash can on the creature's head, covering it with the metal can. Joey slammed the can a few times, causing the monster to stagger for a moment. Joey kicked the can hard, sending the Ravisher into a pile of garbage.

Joey went over to the dazed Venkman. "Doct...Peter?"

"...i didn't do nuthin' to the cow, uncle alf...why'd it kick me..." Venkman muttered.

The Ravisher dissolved back into a cloud of ectoplasmic vapor...

...Then reassembled.

"Get the hell out of here, Williams..." Venkman hissed.

Ravisher backhanded Joey hard, staggering him--he then threw Joey to the ground next to Venkman.

Joey shook his head. "Any regrets, Peter?" Joey asked his new friend, looking at the looming, angry Ravisher.

"Not kissing my wife goodbye is starting to look like a good one..."

For a split second, Venkman's comment unleashed a flood of regret in Joey's mind. _Gina...I never got to fix things with Gina...and now it's too...._

Ravisher roared and reared back a claw.

The two men waited.

Ravisher stopped himself. _"Screw that. Jonny-boy's my target, here, and he's as good as dead already."_

They all heard it, the sound of sirens getting closer to the area.

The Ravisher turned to the two woozy parapsychologists. _"They're too late. I messed Jonny up too bad for some monkey boy doctor to put back together again!!! You losers failed...but it's been fun!!!"_

With that, the Ravisher dissolved back into a cloud of ectoplasm before disappearing totally, the sound of his mocking laughter echoing in Joey and Venkman's ears...

* * *

The flood of calls from panicked theatergoers had been too much for the police to ignore, and an ambulance and several LAPD squad cars were now around the Anaheim theater.

"Let me get this straight, some guy in a jackal costume attacked Mister Dennison, is that what you're saying?" one of the cops was asking Jeremy.

"That's right." he responded. _ It wasn't a costume, but I ain't tellin' you that...last thing I need's a night in the LAPD lock up for drug abuse..._

Fritz, meanwhile, was being hugged hard for the second time that evening. After a few seconds of looking uncomfortable, he returned the embrace. "I told you I would be careful" he reminded Chelsea softly.

"I know, but..." her eyes were moist. She pulled his glasses out of her purse. "Here..."

"Thank you." he replied simply, a slight but heartfelt grin trying to intrude into the corners of his stern mouth.

"I think that your statement should be enough for now, Dr. Baugh, Miss Aberdeen...but try not to leave town for the next few days in case we need to contact you again." the cop interviewing them said.

"Not a problem." Fritz answered. "I don't have to be back at work until next Thursday morning."

The ambulance carrying the grievously wounded Jon Dennison was leaving, it's sirens wailing and lights blazing.

Dana Venkman kept looking around, the worry beginning to show on her face.

Oscar started to reassure her again. "He'll be okay, Mom...he knows what he's..."

Just about then, Peter Venkman and Joey Williams appeared , hobbling up to the assembled group of familiar faces. "Miss me?" Venkman smirked.

Dana ran up to him, looking equally ready to kiss him and throttle him. "Peter Charles Venkman, Do. Not. Do. That. Again." Then she kissed him.

"Aw, c'mon...I used to deal with guys like that every day..."

"You had a high-powered nuclear particle thrower when you did." she rebutted sternly.

"True enough..." he admitted, just as Oscar momentarily forgot he was a teenager and hugged his stepfather.

Fritz, Peter, and Jeremy were tending to Joey, meanwhile. "So how bad were you hit?" Jeremy asked.

"It could've been worse.." Joey admitted, grimacing as he sat on the curb. "The big stooge had us, then he just lit out...said 'Jonny-boy's as good as dead, anyway'..."

"Is that true?" Peter asked.

Fritz exhaled noticeably. "The EMTs said he lost a lot of blood, from the original wound, and was probably concussed from the blunt blows he took. He's being taken to Stevens Point Hospital, where they will do what they can." His voice rose noticeably. "I highly recommend that you and Doctor Venkman also be examined."

"I'm fine...ouch..." Joey tried to reassure, groaning as he got back up.

"Bulls***." Jeremy corrected.

"Doctor Baugh is right, Peter..." Dana told her husband. "I think I'd feel a lot better if somebody gave you the once-over..."

"I am not a licensed medical doctor, Doctor Venkman. However, it does not take one to see that you have been in something of an altercation...possibly a serious one."

Venkman looked at him and chuckled. "You sound like a buddy of mine..."

"I said the same thing..." Oscar agreed.

"You okay now, Grandpa?" Peter Kong asked Jake Senior.

"As soon as I get my pain pills I will, dammit...HEY!!!"

At that moment, Earring Magic Ken walked by. Jake grabbed hiim and belted him in the gut.

"Have some respect for your elders, Jerk!!!"

"Grandpa..." "NOW I feel better..." Jake beamed.

"There is no further debate, Doctor Venkman". Dana informed her husband sternly.

_Aw man, if she's gone from the full name to "Doctor Venkman" she really IS pissed at him..._Oscar thought to himself

"You and Doctor Williams are going to the hospital for a thorough check. I don't want you dying on my now, because I'm too mad at you to allow that to happen."

Venkman didn't even try to argue, just muttering "Yes, dear..."

"Oscar..." Dana turned to her son.

"Be right with you, Mom..." he turned back to Fritz, Peter, and Jeremy. "Thanks for haulin' my Dad's ass outa' the fire, guys. You're pretty cool--you remind me a lot of his Ghostbuster friends."

Peter shook his hand. "Considering the stories I've heard about them,that's a big compliment!!!"

"Hey, what about me?" Joey whined. "I'm the one who actually got chased by the monster!"

"This way, Mister Williams..." one the EMTs cut him off, leading him to the waiting ambulance. Joey and Oscar got inside; Dana and Venkman were already waiting. A few seconds later, it also sped away into the night.

* * *

"Should we go after them?" Chelsea asked Fritz.

"I don't see the point." he replied, simply.

"Man, after what we all just went through together?" Jeremy responded, a little perplexed.

"The hospital will probably be busy enough without us in the way."

"Fritz..."

"We can call in the morning to check their progress, Chelsea." he cut her off. "Right now, I'd say the best thing for us is to get back to the hotel."

_Is it just me or does that dude have ice water running through his veins?_ Jeremy asked himself.

"I hate it, because Jon's a friend of mine, but Fritz is right." Peter broke in. "My Grandpa is way too old to handle this excitement..."

Jake protested, but Peter ignored him.

"...And I need to get him home too. Listen..." he pulled out a business card and gave it to Fritz. "That's my number--I don't have Joey's but I can get it from his friend Chuck. Call me tomorrow, deal?"

Chelsea chuckled at the card. "Nice Garfield drawing..."

Fritz took Peter's hand and shook it. "I think that will be agreeable, Mister Kong."

"Yeah." Jeremy agreed.

They walked into separate directions. Logically, this had to be the end of the situation.

But as he walked with Fritz and Chelsea to their cars, Jeremy heard La Llarona's words in his head again...and somehow knew, with knowledge born of instinct instead of reason...

...That it wasn't even the end of the beginning.

* * *

To Be Continued

* * *

F3222-70403f  
008


	3. Chapter 3

**Ghostbusters West Coast: Opening Night, Part Three**

File by Fritz Baugh, Kyle Stevens, and TheRazorsEdge  
with plot assistance from the entire GBWC team  
GBI Case File GBWC-2003-21/001

* * *

**Previously**

* * *

Jon Dennison, director of the new animated film _Dance of the Skeletons_, was attacked and wounded by the monsterous creature called....The Ravisher. The civilians--Dr. Fritz Baugh, Peter Kong, Jake Kong, Sr, Dr. Peter Venkman, Mrs. Dana Barrett-Wallance-Venkman, Oscar Wallance, Dr. Joey Williams, and Jeremy Hicks--attempted to help Mr. Dennison out....Venkman and Joey succeeded in driving the Ravisher away, allowing the others to summon aid, but the man's survival is still very much in doubt...

* * *

**April 18, 2003  
Somewhere in the highway....**

* * *

" How is he ?' " Dr. Peter Venkman asked with a concern look on his face.

" He's lost a good bit of blood for the wound that he'd received. I just hope our chief of staff can save him." the EMT answered him.

The ambulance roared through the highway heading to Stevens Point Hospital.

* * *

**Stevens Point Hospital....**

* * *

Dr. Kyle Stevens, a well respected medical surgeon/chief of staff, was in charge of gang-related activies and self induced injuries tonight. His last patient was shot 9 nines times but was still alive.

" Ok, Marty, give me the forceps to pull the bullets out." commanded Kyle, with grim determiation. With luck, he managed to get all the bullets out of the man's body. Kyle and his staff managed to save the man's life.

After Kyle walked out of the operating room, a younger teenager ran up to him. "Yo, Doc, will he be okay ? "the teenager asked.

" Yes, he will be okay, for now. Unless you stop your stupid, full of crap, gang war. Your friend got shot 5 times in his right hip and both of his shoulders were shot aswell. Your lucky if he'll be able to leave this hospital tonight and then die tomorrow. !!" Kyle said, very aggressively.

Then the gang member who shot the teenager's friend came in the hospital. " Doc, there he is ." the teenager said.

Kyle quickly rushed to the gang member with enraged fury. The gang member tried to reach to reach for his gun but Kyle slapped his hand away and the gun flew into the crowd of awaiting paitents.

"You're coming with me." Kyle snarled as he jerked the gang member and the teenager with him into the O.R.

They both looked with concern. " Do you see that ? Don't you and your gang members see what is going on in the real world ? " Kyle asked them. The two men didn't answer him. So he said, " How about you two go on home and think about it?!" Then he left the O.R.

His friend, Howard Fitzgerald ran up to him, " Man, that was intense."

" I know, Howard, plus that was very unethical for my part, aswell. I'll probably be hearing from the board director of this place." Kyle said, as the ambulance rushed into the hospital. " Howard, get the O.R. ready." _If it's another drive-by I'll scream..._

Dr. Stevens and Howard checked to see whats goin on. " What do we have ? " Kyle asked one the EMT's .

" Guy was attacked by a punk in a monster costume at the Anaheim theatre. He has an nasty wound on his shoulder. It could lead to amputation. The guys who came with him said he also took several hits to the head and was physically thrown at least twice." the EMT told him.

" Give him 5 bags of blood and anesthetics. I'll be there after I check out these two guys." Kyle ordered them.

He noticed the two men being looked at by other EMTs were accompanied by a woman in her fourties and a teenage boy with blue hair. " Hello. I'm Dr. Kyle Stevens and how are you today ? " he asked them.

" Just fine, my husband and his friend were attacked by some beast at the Anaheim." Dana explained to him. "Every time I think I won't have to deal with that anymore I get proven wrong..."

Kyle thought it was a strange comment, but didn't feel it was his place to ask any more. He checked them out to make sure if there wasn't anything serious. " Your clear, folks, but I would like for you two to stay for observation overnight. The police will probably want you to clarify what happend plus call any other witnesses, as well. " Kyle told them.

"Overnight?!" Joey whined. "I don't know about you but I can't afford...."

Dana glared at both of them. "If that's what Doctor Stevens wants, then that's what will happen. My husband is quite well off, Doctor Williams, and he'll take care of any expense. Won't he?"

Venkman nodded and gave Joey one of those "What can you do?" looks.

Kyle nodded in agreement. "It's settled then." And then he left to go get ready to perform the corrective surgery.

" You know, Joey, I have never meet a doctor as respectful as he is." Peter commited.

"Yeah...pretty nice..." Joey paused for a moment. "Doctor Venkman?"

"I told you to call me Peter"

"What are we going to do about that guy? The Ravisher?"

Venkman pulled out his cel phone. "What else? I'm calling New York, getting Ol' Betsy, and toasting that jerk."

" Oh, no. You're not, Peter, you'll get yourself injured or killed !" shouted Dana.

"So, what, we just let the guy who skewered Jon get away with it?" Venkman retorted, an edge coming to his smooth voice. "He's your friend too--Oscar and Jessica play with his stepkids--and he may still not make it, even!!!"

"Peter, you're forty-eight years old!!!"

Venkman's cheshire grin returned. "You're right. Maybe I am getting up in years. Maybe I'm not the one who has to collar this guy..." He looked at Joey. "Ghostbusters International might be looking to open a West Coast franchise soon, Doctor Williams...you know any brave, witty parapsychologists who might want to run it?"

Joey Williams gasped. He couldn't believe what he just heard.

* * *

Jon Dennison was sent to the O.R. and Kyle was washing his hands to get ready, as well as his friend, Howard. They stepped in the O.R. " Give him the antibiotic shots and the anesthetics. Let's make this quick, Howard, this will take hours to do and I have two fussy cats to feed." Kyle said.

" Look at this, Kyle, this man is lucky that he didn't have this arm severed completely..." mentioned Howard.

" Right, but we can fuse the nerves and muscle tissue together." said Kyle. And so they began to operate on Mr. Dennison.

* * *

**April 19,2003**

* * *

_"I await your orders, Lord Atrocity..."_ The Ravisher said, genuflecting before his master.

_"I am afraid I cannot give you any more orders, Ravisher" _Lord Atrocity responded. _"You are a failure, and unworthy to serve Lord Anubis..."_

_"What!!!???" _Ravisher responded. _"I don't understand..."_

_"The one you said you'd kill is not dead."_

Ravisher seethed. _Damn them all...they must have saved him after all..._

_"It's a pity that I must now destroy you, after taking all of the effort to create you..."_

_"Wait, Lord Atrocity!!!" _Ravisher pleaded. _"You know I'm new at this Supernatural Assassin gig!!! Give me another chance--I will bring you Jon Dennison's heart, his literal, ripped-out-of-his chest heart!!! That will prove me to you and the Lord of Death!!! Please, I have to do this!!!"_

Lord Atrocity seemed to contemplate the thought for a few seconds.

_"Very well, Ravisher. But do not fail me this time..."_

_"I won't, My Lord...and thank you..."_

_"Go."_

With that, Ravisher took his leave. _Now all I have to do is try and find Jonny-boy...hm...now who would know where he is?_

* * *

Peter Kong cursed to himself. He realized he'd forgotten to bring his cel phone--he'd wanted to call Joey, to see how he was doing, then to tell Fritz and Jeremy that he was on his way to the hospital.

But then he realized he was in luck--only a couple blocks away was one of his favorite comic stores, the "Grand Collector"

He parked and went inside, to see a the guy he knew only as Jeff sorting out a stack of comics

"Jeff? You wouldn't happen to have a phone that I could use would you ? " he asked.

" Yeah. In the back." Jeff answered him.

Peter went into the back and started to dial the number he'd gotten from Chuck Sherwood...

Jeff, meanwhile, was reorganizing the _Lupin III_ graphic novels when he noticed a form of black smoke cirlcing around one of the bookshelves. " What the hell ?"

A jackal-headed monster wearing a hoodie appeared out of the portal.

_"Great. Nerd paradise. I should've guessed." _the monster yawned. Jeffrey stood there in fright and fear due to the fat that the monster didn't have hands.

The Ravisher glanced at the comics for a bit. _" Bah ! Pure crap! How many teams of grimacing mutants in pointy chrome do you really need??!?" _he yelled.

Peter hung up--Joey wasn't answering and there was too much yelling going on. "Hey, Jeff, I'm trying to put in a call to Stevens Point Hospital and could you and your customers please..." then he saw who was in the story. "Oh sh*t"

_"Hey, just the guy I was lookin' for...Jonny's head monkey boy...Peter was it?"_ Ravisher grinned evilly.

" Hey, if you guys gonna argue take it out of my store. I swear it's like I'm trapped in a freaking cartoon." Jeff said to them.

_" Buzz off, Creepy!!!" _the Ravisher demanded while backhanding him. _" So long, morons. Blabbermouth Petey told me what I needed to know anyway--I have a person to kill at Stevens Point Hospital ."_ he laughed. Then he vanished.

"Oh crap..." Peter cried.

"Dude, what the f*** was that?" Jeff asked.

"I think Doctor Venkman said he was a Class V Psychoreactive spectre..."

"Well duh, I could tell that...whoa, back up, did you say Venkman?" Jeff stopped, now looking at Peter with something approaching enthusiasm on his previously bored face.

"Um..."

"Time's a wastin' right? He said he was on his way to Stevens Point--and I doubt he's just going to drop off flowers and a sympathy card."

* * *

**Stevens Point Hospital...**

* * *

Kyle and Howard had completed the corrective neurotheraphy on Mr. Dennsion's shoulder. " He's still not responsive. But he's stable and on the life support." said Howard.

" I'm glad that this was over and yet we saved another one. That's 301 patients in the past 4 years. " boasted Kyle.

_" Let's make it 300 saved patients and the loss of your job, Marcus Welby"_ a dark voice said behind them.

The life support systems had stopped and everything was getting cold.

Kyle and Howard turned to see who was behind them until they realized that the life support system was shut off.

" Why is this off ?!?" shouted Kyle.

" I don't know, Kyle, something very scary is going on here. " answered Howard, getting very nervous.

" The wire was cut !" shouted Kyle until he saw a shape talon rising through the operating table, the still beating heart of Jon Dennison clutched within it..

" Sweet merciful crap !!" yelled Howard as they both saw a form of smoke change into a jackal headed monster wearing a hoodie.

_"I always said the scumbag never had a heart--and now he doesn't!" _The Ravisher chuckled. Kyle found that only made the creature more horrifying.

_" Muhahah! You have failed! My mission is coompleted ! Lord Atrocity will be pleased !!" _The Ravisher laughed as he tried to make a quick get away but he hit his face with the O.R. doors.

"Oh God...oh God..." Howard was saying, in shock.

Kyle ran over to the operating table..."I've got to...got to..." _But what CAN I do?!_ He looked around and only saw Howard--the whole entire staff had seen that whole thing and they fleed from the scene.

But thirty seconds later, the Director of Stevens Point Hospital, Johnny Weller, stormed in, clearly agitated. "STEVENS!!! I'm told you're out of surgery and I need to talk to you about that altercation with those gang punks, and..." he trailed off as the full scene penetrated his mind.

"What in God's name happened here?!?!"

Kyle suddenly realized how it looked...he was standing right next to the still warm corpse of Jon Dennison, a gaping hole in his chest.

"There was...a hoodie...I..."

Weller walked up to him and ripped the hospital ID badge off his chest. "A hoodie? I knew it--those gang punks you chewed out earlier came back for a little revenge, didn't they? And this poor man paid for it!!! You've given me more trouble with your sanctimonious Southern Gentleman crap since the day you were hired and this is the last straw:" Weller inhaled imperiously. " Dr. Kyle Stevens, your fired !!! You have one hour to clear any of your possessions out of here and vacate the premises--and be glad if I don't file a malpractice claim on behalf of the hospital!!!"

He turned to Howard. "Dr. Fitzgerald, you're the new Chief of Staff !" he yelled and ran out to the lobby.

Kyle just stood stunned, unable to speak.

"Kyle...I..." Howard stuttered. "I don't know what to say...I'll try and tell him what happened...it wasn't your fault...I..."

Kyle shook his head. "He'll never believe you, Howard. I'm not sure I believe it myself..." He put a hand on Howard's shoulder. "Let him believe it was a gang hit--I'm lucky enough he doesn't think I killed him."

* * *

**Lobby....**

* * *

Joey Williams and Peter Venkman, having just been discharged, had seen the whole hospital staff flood the lobby and ran out the exits. " What's happening here ?" asked Joey,very nervously.

" I don't know, Joey, I bet Old Navy and GAP most have a buy one, get one half off sale." smirked Peter until they both saw the Ravisher slinging the doors open.

The Ravisher let out a sinister laugh and he raised his right talon and showed them a heart still beating faintly, blood dripping to the floor. _" You have failed !! Jon Dennison is now dead !!! My revenge is complete!!!"_ he said with his eyes glowing red as he approached them.

Venkman's right hand actually moved a foot towards his right shoulder.

_"I should probably kill you both for interfering last night...and for being general pricks...but you're lucky: you're not on my list. Pray it stays that way."_

With that, the Ravisher vanished.

"Crap in a hat..." Joey muttered.

Just about then, Peter Kong and Jeffrey Nash bounded into the hospital lobby. "Joey!!! Doctor Venkman!!!' Peter called. "The Ravisher..."

"Has already been here..." another voice said flatly. They turned to see Kyle Stevens, the fire and passion they'd seen last night now all but extinguished. But it seemed to come back just a bit as he looked up, studying the four men standing there for the first time. "What do you know about what just happened?"

"Um..." Peter Kong stammered.

"I think I have a right to know." Kyle stated with growing sternness. "I just got fired over it."

Joey got a strange twinkle in his eye. "Then maybe it's time to make lemonade, Doctor Stevens...I'm Joey Williams, and I have a proposition for you..."

* * *

**Epilogue  
The afternoon of April 20, 2003  
Ghostbusters Central, New York City**

* * *

The phone on the slightly messy reception desk started to ring. The little blonde girl, age four, sitting at the desk, looked up from the math game she was playing on the computer.

"Mother?" her tiny voice called.

Eden Marie Spengler, not seeing her mother, shrugged and picked it up., doing her best imitation of her maternal family's Brooklyn accent. "Ghostbusters Waddya Want?"

_"Yeah, this is the President. There's a hundred foot monster that looks like Barney the Dinosaur eating the Washington monument and we need the Ghostbusters to come down and stop him."_

The girl giggled. "Hello, Uncle Peter."

_"Hey there, Sweetheart. Listen, your Dad or Uncle Ray around?"_

"Uncle Ray's out at Toad Island with Eric, but Father is here...let me go get him!!!"

A few moments later, Professor Egon Spengler, came downstairs, both Eden and her twin brother Johnathan Christopher close behind.

"Peter? Everything fine in LA.? "

"No. Peter, I haven't seen the news in a few days--what happened?" Egon listened for a minute quietly, his face starting to become far more serious. John and Eden looked at each other--they knew that look.

"I agree with that idea, Peter. What are you needing from Ray and I?"

* * *

To Be Continued

* * *

  
010


	4. Chapter 4

**Ghostbusters West Coast: Opening Night, Part Four**

From the files of Dr. Fritz V. Baugh, Official Historian  
Some material provided by Dr. Andy Harness and Dr. Kyle Stevens, South Team Co-Captains  
And plot assistance from the entire GBWC team  
GBI Case File GBWC-2003-21/001

* * *

**Previously**

* * *

Director John Dennison was attacked by the mysterious supernatural assassin known as "The Ravisher". Despite the best efforts of six civilians present at the attack --Dr. Joey Williams, Dr. Fritz Baugh, Jeremy Hicks, Peter Kong, and legendary Ghostbuster Dr. Peter Venkman--and the chief of staff of Stevens Point Hospital, Dr. Kyle Stevens, the Ravisher succeeded in murdering Dennison.

* * *

**East Tennessee  
May 1, 2003**

* * *

"Dude, for summer, it's not very hot." Brandon Harness said.

"Well, maybe if you got out of Ecto and turn off the A/C, you'd feel real Tennessee weather at work!" Bill replied.

The East Tennessee Ghostbusters--Dr. Andy Harness, Dr. Johanthan "Bill" Rollow, Dr. Josh Goben, and Andy's cousin Brandon--had been around for less than a year, and they had already become one of the more noted franchises on the eastern side of the United States. They were different, for sure, but they seemed to fit in perfectly with the optimistic, energetic spirit of true Ghostbusters. They were only 17, except for Brandon, who's birthday was four months away. They had received a lot of criticism from many people. After all, four teenagers with nuclear accelerators spells trouble, but the "boys in camo," as they were dubbed, had caused minimum damage.

The most expensive incident occurred was when Bill went on vacation. They had taken the Ecto-1S to a routine call at Wal-Mart. Apparently a troll had been conjured up by some wizard from Oklahoma and was rampaging through the Plant Department. The proton packs only seemed to tickle the monster, so Andy, having one of his rash moments, put the pedal to the floor and rammed the green booger into the side of Wal-Mart. The creature splattered all over the place. And that had been their trademark ever since. A few days later, they saved the town of Adams from the Bell Witch, but the ramming of a troll into Wal-Mart became the identification mark of the ETGB.

The other mark that could only belong to the ETGB was Ashram. He was your typical "take over the world" moldy Babylonian god. He fed off bad vibes and had a really short fuse.

If he wanted to be respected, he came to the wrong state.

The first time he had tried to take over the world, he had been humiliated by a teenager who he could only describe as loud and had a white helmet. Andy and Bill captured the raging demon after he had possessed one of the gothic library workers. To add insult to injury, Ashram wore a robe that had Andy making fun of him constantly. The humiliation was too much for Ashram. He vowed that one day he would kill the young Ghostbuster even if it meant destroying himself.

But none of that mattered this day.

Bill's PKE meter began to chirp and flash. "I got'em..."

Andy gunned the engine.

A spectral Model T was zigzagging back and forth on the road ahead of them.

"Can tell they're moonshiners..."

The fact that there was one ghost apparently passed out drunk, hanging out of the Tin Lizzie, didn't hurt that impression either.

"Shee-oot!!! The fuzz!!!" the ghost in the driver seat wailed, and gunned the motor. But even propelled by spectral energy, he couldn't outrace the ETGB's vehicle.

"Andy, could you try and hold a little more steady???" Brandon whined. "I can barely draw a bead on the peckerwood..."

"No problem, just tell'em to stop, that'll solve everything." Andy deadpanned back.

"You see the way Andy walks when he's in love? Zigzaggin and bumping into things? Just use that as a basis..." Josh offered. Andy took a second to scratch an itch on his forhead. With his middle finger.

Brandon scored a direct hit.

The ghost car veered and crashed, tumbling over the hillside and coming to rest. In the parking lot of the local Wal-mart.

"Aw, man...this keeps up they're gonna ban us from there..." Brandon smirked.

"You have to go to the mall to get Maxim anymore anyway..." Josh retorted.

The driver got out, clearly panicked. His partner was still completely oblivious as the ECTO-1S screeched to a halt.

There was the sound of three more particle accellerators firing up.

The moonshiner looked to and fro...

"Any last requests?" Bill asked the ghost moonshiner.

"Um..don't shoot me?"

"Bill, you know we don't do requests..." Andy pointed out, a grin on his face.

"Oh, yeah." Bill replied.

Thirteen seconds later, both the moonshiners were incarcerated in a ghost trap.

Andy high-fived this teammates. "Those guys ain't gonna be selling that awful stuff anymore--it was an insult to moonshine." He looked over the Wal-Mart. "Now let's scoot before the manager knows we're here..."

* * *

The East Tennessee Ghostbusters were quickly met by their secretary, Mindy Baxter, as they pulled into their firehouse.

"Hey, Min...what's up?"

"We got a visitor." she said, quickly and quietly. "An important one."

They grumbled a little bit as they walked over to the desk Andy had claimed as his own. They about peed themselves when the chair whirled around to reveal a man they had never met but, as Ghostbusters, knew and practically worshipped.

"D...D...Doctor Venkman!!! Brandon stammered. "W...we can explain what happened at the Wal-Mart! It wasn't our fault..."

Venkman just stared wide-eyed at the apologetic ghostbuster.

Andy, who now had a GBI degree in parapsychology, smacked Brandon in the head and introduced himself and the others to the legend standing in his office.

"Nice to finally meet you guys--I've been reading the files Louis and Sherm sent me, and they tell me you do good work and always pay your franchise fees on time."

"Is that why you're here, sir?"

"Nope, Andy, and it's not to romance your attractive secretary, as tempting as that is--I'm a married man, you know."

Mindy tried hard not to blush as she rolled her eyes. She'd heard all about Venkman. That he was annoying yet charming at the same time. _That's true enough..._

Peter explained how trouble with a dog dude named Ravisher had murdered a friend of his a couple of weeks before, and thus sparked the formation of a new franchise: "The Ghostbusters West Coast. Doctor Harness, I want you to train these guys in the fine arts of ghostbusting."

"What? Why me?"

"Who better than a person born to shoot stuff?" Peter had asked.

Andy was flattered, but with only three ghostbusters, Tennessee would sink into the tenth level of hell.

Peter pulled out his checkbook and stared at Andy.

"I can write a lot of numbers on this check, Doctor Harness. What's it gonna take?"

* * *

**May **10**, 2003**

* * *

Robert John Griffiths, PhD (Electrical Engineering), grimaced as he saw the "NO SMOKING" sign posted at the convention center. He muttered a curse and put out the cigarrette he'd just lit a few minutes ago. "Bennett was bloody right...damn health Nazis really are running the Colonies nowadays..."

A black haired woman heard him speaking out loud, and turned to him. "Wow! cool accent!!! Are you from England?"

"No. I'm from Pittburgh. I just talk like this so I bloody confuse people."

She giggled and walked off. "I'm here to become a Ghostbuster!!!"

_Enough to make me reevaluate..._

He flicked the extinguished cigarrette towards a trash can. It bounced out and hit the floor, where a young man of African ancestry picked it up.

"You missed."

"So I did."

The dark-skinned man dropped the cigarrette in the trash. "I got it!"

"Um..thanks..."

The shorter man (by about five inches) extended a welcoming hand to Robert. "John Lipsyte. You gonna be a Ghostbuster too?"

"Robert Griffiths." Robert replied, returning the handshake. Somehow, he just couldn't help but to like this guy...something so earnest in his eyes. "That's the plan, Mate."

A slightly cubby, black-haired man with large eyebrows wandered up. He was playing a Game Boy Advance. "Dudes, 'Sup..."

Griffiths just looked at him like he'd said something in Martian.

"Not much." John replied. "You here to be a Ghostbuster too?"

The third man looked up. "Ghostbuster? This ain't the game con? That is so whack..."

"I'm not going to bloody ask."

"The game con is at the other side of the center, I think..." John informed the newcomer. "I think if you go down the hall to the left..."

"Chillax, Homey..." the guy cut him off. "I think I'll take a look at the goods you're sellin' me...the 'Busters are cool, y'dig?"

"I'm with you on that. John Lipsyte..." John introduced himself, shaking hands with the Game Boy man enthusiastically. "I've been a big fan of the Ghostbusters for as long as I can remember!!!"

"Micheal Chad, my new friend, but call me Chad...or Mister Clutch, 'cause things have a way of workin' out for me. Maybe this is one of those times."

Robert was beginning to wonder if the Americans put something in their water...

* * *

Andy Harness was waiting in traffic behind a Hindu cab driver; a very rude one, as well.

Impatiently, Andy honked his horn at the cab driver. " Hey!! Move it along ! You're holding up the traffic back here !"

" Up yours ! Stupid loudmouth hick!! " Then the cab driver threw his cold drink and a chicken sandwich at Andy's beloved truck.

This was a mistake. " That's it !" Andy said, aggressively as he got out of his truck. As he approached the cab driver. Andy jerked the driver out of his cab and slamming him on the hood for 3 minutes.

As fate would have it, he was outside the comic store known as the " Grand Collecter".

Jeff Nash was setting up a Trigun DVD to play on the store's video system when he noticed the commotion. " Such strange people ." Jeff said to himself.

A few minutes later Andy came into the store. Apu was taking a little nap in his cab. "Say Creepy, you wouldn't happen to have a phone that I could use would ya?" he asked Jeff.

" Yes. In the back." Jeff answered him. "But the last time I let someone use it the place got trashed."

"Listen, Mister Creepy, I've had enough aggravation for one day, and if I get any more I'll..."

Jeff cut him off. "Waitasec...you ain't Andy Harness, are you?"

Andy was struck speechless for once.

"I knew there was a Ghostbuster from Tennessee coming into town today, and you're about as Tennessee as they come. And you're wearing a flighsuit with the name 'Harness' on the chest patch." Jeff pointed to the back, a little bit of a smirk crossing his face. "Tell Doctor Venkman that Jeff can vouch for you being...delayed."

Andy chuckled as he went to the back. "Mister Creepy is just full of surprises...or something...ain't he?"

* * *

The sign read

GHOSTBUSTERS WEST COAST DIVISION

10AM-4PM

"I've landed in the middle of a bloody geek convention..." Robert muttered to himself, taking in the large crowd of people.

Almost all of them were wearing jumpsuits of one sort or another. Some the uniform tan seen in the movies, others in various hues (all too often clashing badly)

A man of about their age, wearing round glasses with brown hair sporting a widow's peak, came up to them. "Three more...great...how did I let Joey talk me into this?" He had casual clothes, but a cheap paper nametag that said "GBI STAFF"

"John Lipsyte!!! Pleased to meet you!!!" John said eagarly, grabbing and shaking the man's hand.

"Um..yeah...Jeremy Hicks" he replied, taking three pieces of paper off the clipboard he was carrying. "Fill these out and wait until the blonde lady calls out the number at the top." Jeremy pointed at a lady at the front of the gathering, also in a "GBI STAFF" tag (Chelsea Aberdeen, though Robert, John, and Chad weren't aware of that yet) who was looking at a clipboard herself.

"235?" she shouted.

"Me!!! That's me!!!" the same dark-haired lady whom Robert had met earlier bounded to the front of the room.

"This way..." Chelsea said, leading the woman to a table where Dr. Peter Venkman and Dr. Joey Williams were sitting, both wearing sport coats and ties. Joey had a similar paper nametag (though his read "GBI FRACHISE CEO"), while Venkman's was plastic, engraved, and had his name and the title "GBI CEO"

Venkman stood up and introduced himself and Joey to her. "Our business operations manager, Miss Aberdeen, tells me you scored quite well on the test. Miss..." he looked down at the paper in front of him.

"Mary Sue Gladstone!" she anwered brightly, before Venkman could read it.

"Miss Gladstone" Joey nodded. Not too bad a piece of work here either...

Mary Sue looked at both of them, then around some...she saw a third man, with a "GBI STAFF" tag, playing _Beenimon_ on his Game Boy Advance (Peter Kong, though she didn't know that) but that didn't seem to satisfy her. "Egon isn't here?"

One of Joey's eyebrows shot up. "Egon?"

"The whole reason I want to be a Ghostbuster is so I can meet Egon! He is like the perfect man, and I want to give him all the love he needs!!!'

Venkman's eyes narrowed. "You...do realize that Professor Spengler has been married for the last five years?" he asked her slowly.

Mary Sue's nose shrivelled with disgust. "Oh, c'mon, Peter, you worked with that bitch, you know how she is--she just wants one thing out of him and that's it. She's just no good for him!!! It's a mismatch made in Hell!!! I have a black belt in karate--I can take her!! Hi-Yah!!!" With that, she threw a roundhouse kick at harmless empty air...

...Or it would've been if Jeremy hadn't chosen the wrong moment to walk up.

Peter Kong jumped up and ran over to the now out-cold Jeremy.

Venkman's face adopted his fakest smile and he shook Mary Sue's hand. "I think we've seen all we need to, haven't we Dr. Williams?"

Joey had just as forced a smile. "I think we have Sir!"

"We'll send the application to the home office for processing, and contact you shortly! Thanks for your interest!!!" Venkman continued.

"When should I call..."

"We'll call you, Miss Gladstone!!!' Joey said brightly.

"I'm gonna be a Ghostbuster!!!" Mary Sue chanted happily as she walked away. "I'm gonna get to meet Eeeegon!!!"

When she left the room, Venkman aggressively tore her application into tiny pieces and threw it into a waste basket marked "home office". "Insults to the sister-in-law are Uncle Petey's grounds to reject your application, have a nice day. Bitch"

Joey nodded in agreement. "Is Jeremy all right?"

"I think so.." Peter responded.

Joey handed him Jeremy's clip board. "Great. But until he wakes up I need you to pass out the paperwork..." Joey grinned beautifically.

Peter Kong groaned, put his Game Boy away, and walked off to do his work.

* * *

"So what do you think of the place?" Kyle Stevens, MD asked.

"I think this building should be condemned." Fritz V. Baugh, PhD, responded. "And this junk computer next to it."

"I know...we have to talk Joey into springing for a DSL link...this 56K just won't cut it." Kyle nodded. Fritz hit a few more keys, and the familiar sound once described by Dave Barry as "a duck choking on a kazoo" was heard.

"So...what first?" Kyle asked.

"First, I'm going to Tobin Online...let's see if the name 'Ravisher' shows up...just because Doctor Venkman didn't recognize it, doesn't mean that it doesn't have some sort of 'history'..."

_Search Term: Ravisher._

_No match found._

* * *

"That was pointless" Kyle sighed.

"Let me try some other things..."

_Search Term: Jackal, Hoodie_

_No Cross Reference Found_

_Jackal: The jackal is a common figure in several supernatural pantheons. Some of the most important gods of the Egyptian mythos, most notably Anubis, were depicted with the heads of jackals..._

_Hoodie: Slang term for sleeveless hooded sweatshirt. No occult meanings known._

* * *

"Anubis?"

"One of the chief gods of the Egyptian mythology..." Fritz clicked on the description.

_Anubis (Greek rendering of proper ancient Egyptian name Anpu)(Click here for exhaustive historical and anthropological examination)_

_Brief Description: One of the chief gods of the ancient Egyptian Mythos. He was master of the Land of the Dead, and one of the sons of the chief god Osiris (Asar). Often described as having the head of a jackal. In some versions of the myth, he sides with his uncle, Set (Sutekh) against his father, and is party to Osiris being rent into fourteen pieces._

_Note From RStantz: The existance of the Egyptian Pantheon has not been verified, but it's safe to say that Anubis would be a Class VII of incredible power. In other words, he would not be the guy I'd want to learn the truth from..._

* * *

"Heavy stuff" Kyle whistled.

"Indeed." Fritz agreed. "The Egyptian myth was one of the more colorful of ancient civilizations. For example, Osirus and Isis, who married and had a child, Horus, were actually brother and sister..."

"Oh gross..." Kyle shook his head.

"Indeed. There was more incest in Egyptian myth than in anything short of a Jerry Springer episode..."

Suddenly the whole room, screen and all, went pitch black.

"Not again..." Kyle grumbled.

"I swear if they don't get the power grid for this place fixed..." Fritz muttered angrily. "

* * *

Chelsea Aberdeen called Robert's number.

Robert went up to meet Venkman and Joey.

"You're an electrical engineer, Doctor Griffiths?" Joey asked.

"That's correct, Mate. Lancaster College. 3 A levels in ICT, Engineering and English Media. Been working as an aviation specialist for BAE systems in Warton."

Venkman seemed genuinely pleased. "Well, Joey can always use someone to fix his stuff when it breaks...So why be a Ghostbuster?"

"Always wanted to do something to help people, Mate. I read about those guys back home saving the Prime Minister, and I wrote them asking if they needed any more help. Guy in the GBUK, King, wrote back and said they were fine for now, but GBI was opening a new office here..." Robert smirked. "And I admit I bloody love this place. Actual sumlight. Girls in bikinis. Don't get that back in Morecambe, that's for damn sure..."

Venkman and Joey looked at each other, nodding. Joey shook Robert's hand. "Doctor Griffiths, you're in."

Further back in the room, Peter Kong stopped when he saw another man playing a Game Boy. "Whoa...is that the new GBA port of _Genero Fighter II Hyper Ultra Mondo Turbo Deluxe Super Galactic Edition_???" he cried excitedly.

"Sure is, dawg..."

"And you unlocked Audit?! Wow, how did you do that--I was beginning to think he was a myth!!!"

"Weirdest thing....I dropped it, and then when I switched it back on, there he was. It's just my luck workin' for me again..."

Chelsea called out another number.

"That's me, dude. Here--I'll let you play mine while I'm gone..."

"Wow, thanks!"

"Chillax, my friend!"

Micheal Chad went up to Venkman and Joey. "Thanks for coming, Mister Chad." Joey greeted him, shaking his hand.

"Cool to be here." Chad admitted.

"So...this biography you wrote for us is really interesting..." Venkman said, looking over the paper. "You went to Columbia in Toronto? I'm a Columbia New York grad myself you know..."

"Awesome."

"And after that you worked at a radio station..."

"Until it went belly up. So I blew my savings on a bus trip...made it to Redmond, where I ended up testing games for Microsoft. I was on the bus next to a guy who had a problem with his beta test on a game...I was playin' a Game Boy, and he asked me for ideas 'since you're a gamer an all'...well, I gave him some ideas he liked, and when I mentioned I had a Masters in Computer Programming he got me a job there. That's just the way things happen to me." Chad grinned.

"So why are you here today?" Joey asked him

"Like I said, things happen to me. I just think it was my karma to miss the game convention and end up here...bein' a Ghostbuster would be solid cool, y'dig?"

"Chelsea did say he got the highest score on the test of anyone." Venkman pointed out.

"Really? Dawg, most of that was just drawing a real pretty pattern with those ovals..." Chad grinned disarmingly.

After a few more questions, Joey ended the interview. "Thanks for coming, Mister Chad..."

"Just call me Chad." With that he high-fived them and left.

Joey and Venkman just looked at each other. "You think he was serious about the pretty pattern bit?" Joey asked.

"Maybe...but if he was, well...I've seen too much to totally discount the idea of benign karma."

Chad went back to take his seat near Robert and John just as John's number was being called.

"I hate the Evil Eraser...I hate him hate him hate him..." Peter Kong grumbled as he got beaten up again.

John Lipstye shook hands with Venkman and Joey. "It is such an honor to meet you, Doctor Venkman! You gotta understand...I've been following you guys for as long as I can remember. I've seen the movies like a dozen times apiece and seen all the cartoons--even though that Coulier guy didn't sound a thing like you..."

"Just tell me you're not nursing a fatal attraction to Janine Spengler or my wife" Venkman deadpanned.

"No Sir!" John replied, seeming a bit confused. "Why would you ask that?"

Joey chuckled.. "Nothing, don't worry about it..."

"I see you went to UCLA for two years, but didn't graduate?"

"Could never decide on a degree. And my parents got tired of paying for it. But I took several classes on mechanical engineering, religious history, and some other things I hope might prove useful!"

They asked John a few more questions and thanked him for coming.

John went back to Robert, Chad, and Peter. "How'd you do, Mate?"

"I blew it. I had to. I sounded like some dorky fanboy..."

"Chillax, my brother..." Chad said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Everything will work out for the best. It always does..."

_Maybe for you, but I blew it...I guess it's just as well I didn't mention anything about the visions...the dream I had last night..._

He spared a glance at Jeremy Hicks. _He was the man in that dream...the one the lady in the water talked to...but what did it all mean?_

"Mates, what say we go get something to eat? Worrying about it won't do any good, and I'm bloody famished anyway."

Peter shook hands with all three. "I wish I could go with you, but I'm theoretically part of this show, so...Good luck to all of you!"

* * *

Venkman, Chelsea, and Joey were looking over the paperwork when Peter and Jeremy had shown the last applicant out the door. It'd been a long day.

"Some real good ones in there." Joey admitted. "We hired this one, Griffiths, on the spot. And I think these two here are the ones we should go with..." he said, pointing to two other papers he'd set aside.

"You think they'll be okay with Fritz and Kyle?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't see why not." Joey responded. "They both said they'd trust our judgement in the matter, and hey, they stayed at home to play with the computer so they lost their say anyhow, right?"

"Fritz knows you know what you're doing" Chelsea said simply but firmly.

Venkman rolled his eyes and smirked. If Joey reminded him a lot of himself, Fritz Baugh and Chelsea Aberdeen reminded him ever so slightly of two other people of his close aquaintance.

"If we're quick enough...." Peter said eagarly. "We can still catch them and make it official!!!"

* * *

**May 13, 2003**

* * *

"It's him..." Peter Venkman murmured out loud.

A small, strange vehicle appeared, a custom piece of technology that had set it's developers back quite a few pennies. Truth to tell, save for a grateful wizard and a chunk of gold, they'd probably still be paying for it now, a good fourteen years after its creation.

As the vehicle settled to a deft landing, due to the skill of it's pilot and it's VTOL engines, more details became apparent. Venkman smiled with fond (and an occassional not-so-fond to be honest) memory or two. _I nearly got eaten by a dinosaur once in the thing...amazing I can still look at it._

But the familiar device on its wing always provoked a fond reaction: a cartoony ghost in a red circle, barred with a crosshatch. The letters "ECTO-4" were painted beneath the insignia.

Andy Harness, standing beside Venkman, whistled with genuine fascination. "Pretty spiffy space shuttle there, Dr. V. I'd ask to get us one, but Rollow'd just crash it anyway..."

After the whine of the engines faded, Venkman walked over to the hatch. With the groan of hydraulics, it opened, allowing Venkman's oldest friend, fellow original Ghostbuster, and brother in every important sense, Professor Egon Spengler, to step out. Egon's curiously configured head of blond hair that was beginning to lighten...not being nearly as vain as Venkman (though few people were) he felt no need to hide his age, especially not when someone close to him like to purr that it made him look "even more distinguished". His piercing blue eyes regarded the landscape critically, peering over the rims of his tiny red glasses.

His dress, as always, looked more befitting someone of an older generation: a vaguely Edwardian coat in purple atop a vest and tie in the colors of light blue and magenta he'd often favored. There was a cane in his right hand, though he wasn't using it to walk at the moment--though the shorter man knew he sometimes did, a legacy of their shared and often dangerous occupation...

Venkman took off his Ray-Bans, regarding the newcomer with a Cheshire grin, a mischevious twinkle in his green eyes. "You're ten minutes late."

"There was traffic over Albuquerque." Egon deadpanned in a rich basso.

With that, Venkman laughed and they embraced like the old friends they were.

Behind them, Harness shook his head with mock annoyance, and chuckled. "If y'all just invited me along to intiate me into your gay love club, I'll have to pass..."

"Quite a mouth on that one." Egon smirked.

"You know I can't stand sarcastic people, Spengs..." Venkman responded, and rolled his eyes. "Andy, go ahead and unload the packs. Professor Spengler and I have a lot to catch up on."

"No problem, Dr. V..." Harness replied, making a mock salute. "Um...if you'll just open the hatch..."

"Oh" Egon replied, fishing a device out of his pocket. He punched a button on it and the tail hatch of the ECTO-4 sprung open. Harness reached inside and began to root through the contents.

Egon and Venkman took a long look at each other.

"Los Angeles has been treating you well." Egon remarked.

"Not too bad...it smells different. Not better, but different. I kind of miss weather sometimes, but the earthquakes and mud slides kind of make up for it. Plus there's always girls in bikinis around..."

"I thought you gave that up."

"Hey, I'm married, not dead, Spengs." Venkman grinned. "Look, but don't touch. Even better if they don't see you looking, but Dana knew how I was when she married me..."

"And married you anyway."

"How is everything back home? I mean, other than the fact that Dana is still six shades from livid that our 'little Hollywood jaunt' turned into something bigger."

"To paraphrase your earlier statement, she knew what you did for a living when she married you. But I honestly think Jessica is quite confused--she loved spending time with Eden at first, but I think by now she quite misses her father."

Venkman shook his head and made a grouchy noise. "So how are the twins doing?"

"They're grounded from Bill Nye reruns this week, actually. They were visiting New York and built a working volcano in their Grandmother Melnitz's bathtub. It was an inspired work of genius, of course, but...well...Denise was quite angry about the flaming shower curtains."

"And you don't want a Jewish grandmother angry about flaming shower curtains..." Venkman chuckled.

"Still, it was better than the time they rewired my mother's toaster and blacked out half the neighborhood."

"Now where do they get that from, anyway?" Venkman elbowed him.

"The quest for knowledge is a noble instinct." Egon stated with mock pomposity, crossing his arms. "I'll have you know I built a working volcano in my parents bathtub myself at about the same age..."

Andy Harness caughed to get their attention. "Sorry to interrupt, Y'all, but I got the packs unloaded. So where you want'em?"

Egon and Venkman walked over to the four crates now sitting beside the ECTO-4. Venkman pried one open and whistled. "Whew...I'm surprised...they look..."

"The same as they used to?" Harness cut in, genuinely amazed. "I thought Dr. V said they were 'new and improved'..."

"I was going to say 'clean'..." Venkman chuckled.

"They are improved, Andrew. They take some of the design innovations Roland introduced into the 1997 version into account, not to mention the vast improvements in computer miniaturization since 1983, while maintaining the essential configuration of the original packs. There were some problems with the plasma core system that became more apparent as they were used--for one thing, compared to the five thousand year half-life of the original packs the 1997 system burned out worryingly quickly. Plus, well...Ray preferred it this way."

"He's such a softy..." Venkman chuckled. "Computerized, you say?"

"Absolutely. Complete computer control of the coolant system to minimize the danger of breakdown, not to mention tracking and telemetry systems that will allow them to be monitored from a GB Central mainframe."

"All I know is..." Andy broke in, "I just hope the computer ain't Windows based. I'd hate to be in the same county when the program controlling the coolant system crashes..."

Venkman high-fived him. He turned back to Egon "Be sure to tell Tex thanks...I know putting together a dozen proton packs on such short notice couldn't have been easy."

"Your check more than paid for the materials, Peter. And you know he enjoyed the challenge of it. Roland's classes had let out and he was able to aid in the contruction, as did Eduardo.."

Venkman blinked. "Eduardo Rivera? That Eduardo?"

"He's become quite handy of late, Peter. I look at it as him following in a tradition of Ghostbusters who are smarter than they seem..."

Venkman laughed for a few seconds.

Egon continued: "There are ghost traps attached to each proton pack, as well as one extra in each crate for a total of sixteen--it should me more than sufficient to start. And also in each crate is one of these..." Egon reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a polished metal box, about the size of an old vhs tape, with a handle on the bottom, and flipped a switch. Two arms flipped out and began to glow and beep slowly.

"Now that's different..." Venkman admitted. "The new model PKE meter, I take it?"

"Of course." Egon replied, just a twinge of self-satisfaction showing at the corner of his mouth. "This is arguably the most upgraded piece of Ghostbuster technology, as the advances in computerization and internet technology have been more beneficial to it than any other piece of our equipment. The range is approximately twice what it was before, the scanning and detection parameters more precise, and the memory is literally a million times what it was in the 1984 model. Like the proton packs, it offers full telemetric capacity with a GBC host, as well as theoretical internet capacity on par with the state of the art cellular phones. In addition..."

Venkman clamped a hand over Egon's mouth. "As long as there's an instruction book written in a language close enough to English for my tech guys, Robert and Fritz, to understand, we'll be fine. Egon."

Egon put the meter back in his pocket. "Of course...but promise you will contact me or Ray of any questions about it arise."

"Duh" Venkman replied simply.

"And here is a CD-ROM with the full technical details of the proton packs, meters, and ghost traps, as well as the information you'll need to create your own containment unit. It's encrypted, of course--you'll need to unlock it using your old GB Central password. After that, you can designate authorized users of the software..."

"You know I suck with computers, Egon..."

"(Sigh)...then authorize Andrew and, presumably, a 'tech guy' or two..."

At least he used my old password...Venkman thought to himself. The name of my favorite porno movie...no way I'd forget that...

He grinned to himself for a moment...before his face darkened.

"Peter?"

"How'd the background check come out?" Venkman asked, his voice more serious.

Egon pulled a sheaf of papers out of his pocket, and handed them to Venkman. Venkman shuffled through them, muttering. "You gotta meet these guys sometime, Spengs...parapsychologist... engineer... physicist... good combination, there huh? Mister Creepy is an Occult scholar, good good... couple creative types. Game tester...and an ani...what? Egon, is this right? This guy really _is_ Jake Kong's son?"

"Apparently so."

"I thought that nose looked familiar. This gets weirder all the time..."

Egon looked at his friend for a moment silently. "Peter, be very careful about this. As always, if you need our help Ray, Winston, Janine and I could..."

Venkman shook his head. "You guys have enough to worry about, Egon. You just can't handle this situation from thousands of miles away. That's where Andy comes in..."

Egon looked at Andy. "This is a large responsibility, Andrew. But I know you're up to it--your work with the East Tennesse Ghostbusters proves it."

"I won't disappoint you, Professor."

Egon spared Venkman one last handshake that somehow turned into another hug.

"You better get going, old buddy..." Venkman said. "I don't want Redzilla mad at me for keeping you too long. Just say those kids for me. Let me tell you, they're going to be breaking science club hearts before you know it..." Venkman gently cuffed him. "One more way they take after their dad."

As Egon turned back toward the ECTO-4, Venkman shouted back "And tell Ray Stantz he better come along too next time or I kick his ass!!! He and Winston both owe me pictures of their munchkins too!!! Remind them of that!!! And while you're at it don't forget about Ray's _otaku_ porn..."

Egon Spengler shook his head affectionately one last time as he closed the hatch of the ECTO-4. Within three minutes, the small craft had returned to the skies, heading east.

Venkman watched it until it was out of sight.

"I have to thank you again for recommending me, Doctor Venkman..."

"Hey, we're all pals here, call me Peter..." Venkman exhaled. "And in a week you may not be thanking me..." He tried to heft one of the crates and shouted. He held a hand to his back and moaned in pain. "You'll have to carry them to the truck for me, Andy...my back's been thrown out again!!!"

Andy gave him the skunk eye, half suspecting Venkman was making it up to keep from having to carry anything (he was) and started to pull one of the crates along.

Andrew Harness, PhD spared one last look of his own in the direction the ECTO-4 had vanished. An oft-repeated line from X-Men comics started to roll though his head...

"Welcome to the West Coast, Andy Harness...Hope you survive the experience!!!"

Of course, if I'm not successful...We're not successful...I won't be the only one...

* * *

The car pulled up to the former warehouse on Vista Del Mar Highland Avenue

Venkman and Andy walked inside.

There were two white-painted vehicles, freshly polished, sitting there waiting.

One was a 1959 Cadillac Meteor, the ubiquitous choice of Ghostbuster franchises to follow the tradition established by the legendary founders. The orange tail fins were set off by stripe patterns on the sides of the car, and an array of electronics gear on the roof rack, including various sirens and lights, an LED display board on each side, and even a radio dish.

Its license plate read "ECTO-1N"

The other was a converted SWAT van, once more with an assortment of decals on the side and equipment on the roof.

Its license plate read "ECTO-1S"

Both had a phone number, KL5-GBWC, and a stenciled phrase "Totally Ready to Believe You" added to them.

But the most noticeable mark was the insignia. The legendary Ghostbuster logo--albeit in neon orange.

Venkman strode over to the reception desk. Chelsea Aberdeen looked up as he approached. She was wearing a stylish outfit in various shades of purple, which included a vest, a floppy tie, and a pleated mini skirt. A nametag clipped to her shirt bore the neon orange logo, her name, and the phrase "GBWC OPERATIONS"

Also standing there was Boris Meely, an old aquaintance of Venkman's (they'd met on a case back in 1985) and a freelance photographer that got sent a lot of work by GBI.

"They ready?" Venkman asked.

Chelsea whistled loud. "Showtime fellas!!!"

The ten men filed into the room, all wearing identical tan/greyish flight suits, utility belts, and all but one with matching work boots. Each one had a nametag..."WILLIAMS" "STEVENS" "BAUGH" "CHAD" "NASH" "GRIFFITHS" "HICKS" "KONG" "LIPSYTE"

One the right shoulder of each was the neon orange Ghostbuster logo.

"This thing kinda itches..." Jeremy griped.

"Wait until you get slimed a time or two. That'll loosen it up..." Venkman replied with a chuckle.

Andy Harness, now wearing a matching suit, marched over to the others. "I'll learn these guys just fine, now let's get some pics to excite the folks back home, Shutterbug..."

Meely took quite a few pictures, both of the assembled group and of each member.

"I think we got a _Spooks Illustrated_ cover in here somewhere..." Meely chuckled.

"One last thing to do..." Joey grinned, motioning for his new colleagues to join him outside the warehouse. All of them but Robert moved off to do so...

Once they were outside, Joey pointed to above the door. "Let it rip, Doctor Griffiths!!!" Joey yelled.

Robert smirked and pulled a switch.

Nothing happened.

The assembled neophyte Ghostbusters looked at each other.

Robert Griffiths let loose a stream of unprintable curses, pulled out a large rubber mallet, and whacked the lever box six times. He hit the switch again.

A glowing neon sign burst into life, casting an orange glow over all of them.

"Lady, Gentlemen...Andy...the Ghostbusters West Coast Division is now Open for Business!!!" Joey announced.

Suddenly, the chiming tones of the Ghostbuster theme started to play from Venkman's pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and answered it.

"Doctor Peter Venkman, Legend of Ghostbusting...Wassup?" He listened for a few seconds. "Ray!!! I was just reminding Egon to chew you out for me since you got all lazy and stayed at home...What? He did? Ray, that's great--even better than I was hoping for!!! I'll take back everything I just said about you--this time. Thanks, Ray--Bye" Venkman had a mischeivious look on his face as he put the phone back in his pocket.

"Doctor Venkman?" Peter Kong asked, just a little unnerved.

Venkman looked at them all, his Cheshire grin flashing. "Boys...we've got company coming..."

* * *

To Be Concluded

* * *

#3230-82403u  
015


	5. Chapter 5

**Ghostbusters West Coast:Opening Night, Part Five**

Filed by Dr. Fritz V. Baugh, Official Historian; Dr. Joey Williams, GBWC CEO; Additional material by Dr. Ron Daniels, GBNOMAD.  
with plot assistance from the entire GBWC team  
GBI Case File GBWC-2003-21/001

* * *

**Ghostbusters Central West  
Evening of May 13, 2003**

* * *

Startled, yet intrigued by the recent phone call from GBI headquarters, the team started many sudden side conversations.

"Let me guess. Well have to wait and see who this "new member" is?" said Andy both sarcastically and slightly angry.

Peter with one of his famous smirks nodded yes.

"Dr. Venkman, I like your style," Joey said admiringly.

"So do I," he replied still smirking. "Hell be here shortly. I suggest you all take a seat."

Chelsea, who had suddenly disappeared a little while ago, emerged from the West Coasts Headquarters.

"We've got to save the 'taking seats' for later. We've just got our first call," she spoke confidently.

Being reminded of someone from his past, Venkman smiled. "I'll tell you what, Chelsea. Ill take the boys out for a little bench test and if you-know-who comes in time, send him our direction. He might be able to help out a little," Venkman replied using the identical smile he used from before.

"Okay," Chelsea replied with a strong and confident nod.

"Lets head em out boys!" Joey said commandingly.

"Nice. Very nice," Venkman commented.

The team in their new outfits, ran towards the entrance of the big HQ. All with a smile on their face, they ran to both the ECTO-1N and ECTO-1S. Venkman walking behind the group with Joey, Fritz and Chelsea.

"Any description of this so called disturbance?" Venkman asked obviously very experienced in this field.

"Now that I think about it, I sort of hung up after I got the address," Chelsea said blushing with embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it, well just wing it," Venkman said re-assuringly.

Venkman, the only one out of costume, got into the front seat of the ECTO-1S. Leaning over the seat looking at Kyle, Andy, Peter, Jeff, and Chad--the soon-to-be Southern division of the West Coast Ghostbusters.

"Im not pulling out of the garage, until you all have your seat belts on," Venkman deadpanned.

Andy and the other Ghostbusters began laughing. No one knew if it was because of Venkman's joke or of nerves but they continued to laugh anyway.

Joey headed to the drivers seat of the ECTO-1N; John and Jeremy were already inside it, leaving Fritz and Chelsea alone.

With everyone in the cars, it was silent. Each click of the heel echoed throughout the gigantic HQ which wasn't fully furnished yet.

"Fritz, lets go! While were young!" Andy shouted breaking the silence.

"Well, it looks like Ive got to go," Fritz said avoiding eye contact with Chelsea by looking at anything possible.

"Fritz" Chelsea uttered softly.

"Yes?" Fritz said after an awkward pause.

"Um.. Be careful out there," Chelsea replied looking down at the dirty tiled floor.

"No need to worry about that. I'm always careful," Fritz said with a smile.

Fritz's smile must have been contagious. A grin then covered Chelseas face as Fritz jogged towards the ECTO-1N.

As if planned, at the slam of Fritz's door, Joey said, " The Ghostbusters West Coast Division is now in business."

The roar of the engines of both ECTOs roared throughout the HQ, giving every Ghostbuster a tingly feeling.

"All right! Enough of this mushy/ movie memorial crap and lets go," Jeff said with a smile.

Two beautiful beams of light shot out from the front of both ectos glistening on the dark pavement as the ectos shot from the HQ entrance as a boosted matchbox car.

Chelsea then walked out the front door after both cars cleared the garage. She stared along the dark road which was slightly lighted by the stars. Chelsea then looked up at the blinding lighted logo and smiled reassuringly.

* * *

**In the ECTO-1N**

* * *

"Where we headed?" John questioned.

"To the Sanchez diner," Robert answered after taking a glimpse at the piece of paper Fritz was holding.

"This ghosts got some good taste," Jeremy said slowly smiling a beat after his comment.

"How much longer till we get there?" John again questioning.

"Well, we left a few wiffins past, so it shouldn't bee too much longer," Robert answered in a crisp British voice.

"I'm still puzzled as to who this 'company' is that Venkman spoke of," Fritz pondered staring out the front window, in which the lights were crossing across like some sort of florescent light show.

* * *

**In the ECTO-1S**

* * *

"Hopefully, hell be here in time to give us a hand," Venkman said to himself as well as to entice the others.

"I'm so nervous, I could urinate," Kyle said trying to keep his more advanced vocabulary.

"Same here. I'm practically wetting myself," Peter chimed in suddenly.

"If I were you I would get that fixed," Jeff said referring to their bladder control problems previously mentioned.

Venkman began laughing to himself at the familiar nervous anxiety which he once felt.

"I would feel much safer if you kept your eyes on the road Dr. Venkman," Andy blurted with an ounce of cockiness.

* * *

**The Sanchez Diner**

* * *

The diners name glowed throughout the blackest of California's skies, being used as sort of an enlarged street light.

From outside the diners door, you could see another stunning light show. It was a more condensed version of the northern lights, or at least it looked like that from afar. As the bright lights and dark shapes grew closer, you could begin to make out the Ecto-1n and 1s's bodies.

Screeching, almost simultaneously the two ectos stopped almost parallel to the diners entrance.

Bystanders immediately gathered around the ambulances suddenly realizing they were here to clear up the major disturbance in the diner just by GBIs logo implanted on the side doors of both cars.

Slowly, milking all the possible publicity they could, there was a click of a car doors handle, which silenced the crowd of witnesses. A rather tall man got out of the front seat of the ECTO-1S.

With a rather experienced and commanding voice, Dr. Venkman said after looking around the area quickly, "Did somebody see a ghost?"

Almost, as if planned, the other Ghostbusters emerged from each Ecto.

"All right boys, lets do this thing," Joey said motioning for the team to follow him.

"I kind of wanted to wait till I was married" Chad deadpanned.

At that moment, all of the Ghostbusters jogged into the diner. Diner was not a good name for it; it was the size of a stadium and the name didnt match its size.

In the front lobby, which was lined with beautiful red carpet and matching appendages, the Ghostbusters were conversing with the manager.

Venkman was lagging a little behind, intending to let the new Ghostbusters learn from their own experiences. But he wasn't stupid either--he'd put on a set of work gloves and a proton pack.

"So, basically you ran out before you could get a good look at the ghoulie," Andy said a little angry from the manager who proved to be no help.

"You'll have to forgive him. He was raised by Roseanne," Joey said dryly, slightly bringing Andy behind him as to keep him under control.

"Thats okay. No harm done," the manager said with a guilty look on his face.

"If you could evacuate all of the remaining people, we could worry more about the ghost without having to worry about innocent bystanders," Fritz said confidently.

"Sure thing," the manager quickly answered as he left to do what he was told.

Venkman smiled once again being reminded of a group of very familiar men as they started towards the divided dining rooms.

As they entered the largest banquet room, they began observing all of the damage.

John started towards the center of the room under the intricate chandelier. As he stood viewing the damage, he felt slight pellets of liquid pound upon his forehead.

"In a place like this, you wouldn't think there would be so many roofing problems would you?" John asked not expecting an answer.

As they all looked up to view the object of Johns comment they saw the cause of the falling liquid pellets. Everyone literally turned green with disgust and pity. Jeremy sat down on one of the chairs with too much fear to stand up. A body of a man, lay hooked on the chandelier, by being stabbed through the chest by one of the glass designs. His wound was enormous, and his remaining blood slowly dripped out, falling onto the floor.

"I've only seen one other man with the same look on his face in my life. It cant be him," Kyle said in a state of shock.

Chad, then too pulled out a chair from with-under a table, and took a seat and then rested his head within his hands.

"This looks extremely bad," Fritz said while not removing his eyes from a locked position upon the PKE meter.

Even Venkman was a little thrown by this ghosts love of torment and pain. Venkman put his black gloved hands on his sides and peered across the room, again looking for any sign of ectoplasmic residue.

Jeff slowly walked across the room to the large wooden door which led to another identical room. Slowly opening the door he peered in the room through a small crack in which he opened the door.

"Guys!!!" Jeff said in the loudest possible whisper, motioning for the others.

Suddenly a chair sailed through the door from the other room slamming Jeff down to the floor on his back leaving Jeff with the aftershock of the pain he felt slamming onto the bulky proton pack. All the Ghostbusters stared at the oak doors waiting and wondering what to do next.

"Now would be a very good time for him to arrive," Venkman said once again referring to the new member of the West Coast Division.

The door finally opened. A tall dark figure stood in the shadows of the dark room behind him.

"Its you!!" Kyle screamed.

* * *

**Near GBCentral West...**

* * *

He found the traffic of California horrendous, traffic jams 24/7. It was a rather tedious task to drive further than 5 feet here, he began to wonder how we would be able to adapt.

This place was totally different from either of his homes. Either of them, how odd it was to live in two entirely different situations in less than a year.

Now he was expected to settle down to a life of research, and study. Confined to a lab, this was not a job; it was a prison sentence.

At least to him it was, Egon would have loved it. It just wasnt his style. He lived for being out in the field. Which explained why he would drive all the way from Stanford to Los Angles, just to increase his workload.

But it got him out of that lab, or as he had affectingly named it: "Vacuumed Hell". He didnt care what the Science Department standards were; a sterilized area is not needed for paranormal research.

"Crap, gas went up 15 more cents." He muttered to himself seeing a sign at a BP station.

Exit 143, he flipped his blinker and moved his cumbersome vehicle over to the exit ramp. He glanced down at his directions to make sure he was heading the right way; he wasn't about to get lost here.

Then he saw it, a large and old..yet renovated warehouse. The familiar look of a No-Ghost logo, encircled in orange rather than red, glowed dimly in the heat of the day, or was that the pavement propelling heat upwards?

"Oh shit!" He yelled as the 1993 Chevrolet Pick-up truck smashed into a parking meter. Fortunately, the Brush guards were stronger than the parking meter. "Not even a scratch." He chuckled as he inspected the front of his vehicle.

Sunlight busted through the doorway of the West Coast Divisions HQ. Chelsea Aberdeenn looked up and saw a very tall man, around 6 foot seven she guessed who was rather large. He was wearing a Charcoal Grey flight suit, and what appeared to be standard equipment hung from a webbed grey belt around his waist. On the shoulder, a logo similar to the West Coast Divisions but with green in place of the orange.

Her eyes wandered upward, his hair was a mess looked like he had just gotten out of bed. "Dr. Venkman, _he_ is here." She said over the phone.

She looked up now, her eyes focused to what was below the No-ghost logo, looked like vials of some sort. Finally she could make out a black path on the left breast; there in big red letters was "DANIELS".

* * *

**Back at the Sanchez Diner**

* * *

_"So it seems you remember me,"_ The Ravisher uttered followed by a sinister giggle.

Venkman, stepping in front of the team, began taunting the beast. " Didn't you learn your lesson last time? We weren't even prepared and we took you out. It was sort of like beating the Jersey Jaguars, no one thought anything of beating a low class demon like yourself."

The other Ghostbusters stood staring at the seeming to be, future showdown.

_"I can sense your fear, Dr. Venkman,"_ The Ravisher whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"So I'm guessing you also can sense I've got to take a piss. So lets get this over with as fast as possible," Venkman said confidently.

_"Your witty comments will be your downfall!"_

"Yeah, I've heard that before," Venkman replied. "Now why are you here?"

_"My master has been watching your current activities and is very displeased. He wants me to get rid of the only threat that exists. However small it may be,"_ The Ravisher answered.

"I see. Well, lets show this low level demon, what it means to mess with LA!"

The Ghostbusters, with their particle throwers in hand, immediately switched them on.

"You know, we never actually used these things before," Chad whispered to Jeremy nervously.

"I just realized that," Jeremy replied in a whisper.

Joey and Andy stepped forward and simultaneously said, "On three!" and Andy alone replied, "Three!!"

In an instant, 10 proton streams lit up the room, only two of them actually hitting the Ravisher. (being Venkman and Andy)

The others flew backwards never realizing how powerful those proton packs actually were. They all slowly stood up, un-used to the heavy weight of the packs.

"Lets try this again," Joey shouted embarrassed.

The Ravisher, barely able to move by being hit by now a plethora of beams, telekinetically lifted up the long banquet/buffet table and hurled it in the direction of all of the ghostbusters.

They all dodged the slender table, some only barely.

After the Ravisher regained its breath, it began walking towards Venkman, the closest to him.

The Ravisher slowly lifted Venkman up and brought his face close to his. Whispering in his ear, _"It's time."_

The other Ghostbusters lay motionless on the floor trying to get to their feet as well as remove the debris from the other tables, the slender table broke with its fall.

The Ravishers nails enlarged a great degree and slowly grazed Venkman's neck with it.

"Nooo!!" Peter Kong screamed beneath a large half of a table which too was debris from the Ravishers attack.

The Ravisher added slight pressure to Venkman's neck having a trickle of blood flow from his neck.

Suddenly another proton stream from behind hit the Ravisher head on.

"YEE-HAW!!" A large man screamed with a smile as he continued his assault on the Ravisher.

Peter Venkman fell from the Ravishers grip landing on the ground with a thud.

"I'm glad you could make it Ron," Peter Venkman said loudly.

"So am I," replied Chad.

Ron Daniels, beginning to lose the on-going battle between his proton stream and Ravisher, shouted "So, you guys gonna help or what?"

Each Ghostbusters eyes widened innocently and inexperienced as each threw on his particle thrower once again and began to attack the Ravisher.

With wind blowing from the powerful proton streams cutting the thick Californian air, Fritz stood still examining his PKE meter.

Ravisher let out a high pitched scream shattering the remaining unbroken glass objects.

"How cute, hes calling for his mommy," Andy said with a smile to Peter Kong as they continued to blast the Ravisher.

"I'm not too experienced at this but, isn't this the time where youre supposed to throw the trap???" Jeremy shouted throughout the earth shattering noise of the proton streams and the Ravishers yell.

"Yes. Yes it is," Ron Daniels deadpanned.

John quickly unhooked the trap from his proton pack and diligently tried to untangle the long cord as Fritz was showing Venkman the unusual activity being displayed on the PKE meter.

"This is not good at all," Venkman said to Fritz.

"Didn't think so," Fritz replied.

As John threw the trap relatively close to the Ravisher, an explosion echoed throughout the room. Each Ghostbuster looked around puzzled. They continued to fire for a few more instants until they felt the aftershocks which erupted and sent each Ghostbuster to their feet and each proton stream broke away and ceased firing.

"I can't move," Robert shouted.

The Ravishers pain stricken face screamed as cutting winds surrounded him and formed a tornado like covering.

_"THANK YOU MY LORD!!"_ The Ravisher screamed, still with pain in his voice.

The heavy winds which encased the Ravisher sped up. Each Ghostbuster watched as their hard work began to diminish. Once the winds hit a speed which it could not surpass, a flash of light engulfed the center of the room, including the Ravisher, transporting the Ravisher to a more "safe" location.

Immediately after the disappearance of the flash of light, all the wind ceased, leaving the air still. Each Ghostbuster slowly stood up rubbing their eyes fiercely trying to get rid of the circular, green and purple shapes, which were the effect of such a bright light.

Venkman, Daniels and Harness were the first to stand. They began ruffling their clothes and brushing their shoulders off from being in contact with the dirty floor.

Once everyone was up, staring at one another, Joey broke the silence, "That wasn't such a chore now was it?" Joey deadpanned.

They all stared at him for a moment.

"Well boys, may I introduce Dr. Ron Daniels, one of the most well-known members of GBI, formerly of the Georgia Ghostbusters and most recently of NOMAD, which you might have heard of," Venkman said proudly.

Joey walked over to Ron and put out his hand. After, their brief shaking, Joey said in a tone of authority, "Welcome to the West Coast."

"Welcome to the West Coast indeed," Ron replied with a smile.

"I read the report about what happened to NOMAD." Fritz said as he shook Ron's hand. "A rather unfair shame, in my opinion."

"It isn't always a fair world, Dr. Baugh" Ron replied, with a bittersweet grin.

"Wow!!!" John said, pumping Ron's hand excitedly. "I read about you--you were the guy who almost dethroned The Legend in the GBI pie eating contest!!!"

Ron smirked and rolled his eyes.

Joey pulled out a crumpled up package of cigarettes and pulled two out. He tossed one to Ron and placed one between his own lips. He then re-submerged the package into his pocket and lit both, knowing that almost all of the others didn't smoke.

They began walking out of the huge Dining hall to embrace the cheering crowds (which Venkman and Joey mugged for with pleasure) and the manager, who was left with a pretty giant size bill.

They noticed a truck parked right beside the two ECTOs. Right next to a downed parking meter.

"Durn big city driving's gonna be the death of me." Ron chuckled. "I swear some commie must have designed these roads..."

"We should have had'm!!" Andy shouted while slamming his fist on the top of the ECTO-1S.

"We should have," replied Peter Kong, nodding. "We should have."

As Venkman and Joey returned to the ECTOs after embracing the crowd for a little bit, Venkman replied with a rather sinister smile, "We'll get him eventually. Plus, there will be more. Many more."

Both ECTOs followed by Ron in his dirt smeared truck left to go return to the HQ. Leaving a cloud of smoke from the exhaust disappear into the night.

* * *

018


End file.
